It's a Jungle Out There
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: The Impossibles trek through the jungles of India to track down and solve a mystery of a supposedly cursed treasure
1. Prologue

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another fanfic based on yet another computer game. What can I say? Sometimes games provide inspiration. You just have to fine tune the details. Anyway, this one is inspired by one called "The Dark Hills of Cherai," which was developed by ChaYoWo Games. In any case, The Impossibles and Big D belong to Hanna-Barbera. Any other characters you encounter belong to me. Also, the Impossibles' and Big D's real names were created by myself, as they were never given in the original cartoon. It should also be noted that ALL the Impossibles' and Big D's family information/ancestry/etc. is something I came up with, and is NOT to be taken as canon (sorry, I just feel the need to pound THAT point in with a sledgehammer)._

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><p>It was another slow crime period, so the Impossibles figured they would be able to get some vacation time in. Fluey was sitting on the couch in the den, watching TV, and tuning his guitar when the phone rang. The dark-haired teenager put his guitar aside, and reached across the couch to grab the phone.<p>

"Hello?" he said. "Yeah, hang on a sec. HEY, CHIEF!"

"I'm right in the next room," Big D said, coming into the den. "You don't need to break the sound barrier, you know."

"Sorry," Fluey said, shrugging. "Phone's for you. Long distance from India."

"Thank you," Big D said, and he took the phone. "Hello? Yes . . . . I see . . . . well, I can't guarantee anything, but I'll see what I can do. All right, then. Goodbye."

And with that, Big D hung up the phone, and stood there for a moment. Fluey just looked at him, wondering what that was all about.

"Who was that, chief?" he asked.

"Someone I haven't seen in sixteen years," Big D replied. "I need you to get in touch with Agent Coil, and I'll contact Agent Multi."

"Got an assignment for us, huh?" Fluey asked, putting his guitar down for the moment.

"Yes," Big D said. "Only I'll be accompanying you three . . . . or rather, _four_, if you include Impossi-Pup, to India."

"What for? You hardly ever get involved in a case, unless you can't help it."

"It's quite a bit of an involved story, Fluid. I'll explain it to you tomorrow, when Multi and Coil are with us. That way, I can give you the mission briefing together, as always."

"Okay, chief. But I still don't get it."

Fluey held up his wrist communicator, and punched in the coordinates for Coiley's guitar, while Big D went down to the basement where he had a communications console. He never used his own wrist communicator at home.

The next day, the Impossibles were at HQ, getting a slight briefing by the chief on this assignment.

"Boys, yesterday I received a call from someone I know in India," the chief explained. "She did not wish to speak to me about it over the phone. Instead, she requested I come down myself, as she trusts me, and not many of the agents working out of India. I'm requesting you boys to come with me, as you are my top agents. I'm not sure what I'm going to be getting into, and I may need back up."

"Right, chief," Coiley said.

"We'll start up the Impossi-Jet right away," Multi said.

"I'd rather we not take your jet," Big D said. "It's a long flight from here to India, and your jet is somewhat lacking in space, if you will."

"Yeah, but it's got one heck of an automatic pilot," Fluey said, shrugging.

"He's got a point, though, Fluey," Coiley said.

"I'll arrange one of the agency jets to handle this," Big D said. "We leave tomorrow morning."

"Gotcha, chief," the Impossibles said in unison. Then they went to the mail room to tell the girls about the trip.

"You guys are so lucky," Shawn sighed. "You get to go to all the exotic places, while we get to sit around here and do nothing most of the time."

"I know," FG said. "Why doesn't he let us go with you at times? I only get to see some action when you guys need back up."

"I don't know," Multi said, shrugging. "Maybe he's old fashioned in the regard of girl agents."

"Can't you ask him if we can go?" Danalleah asked. "He never lets me do anything except stay in the mail room. The only time I get to go with you guys is if there's no time for arguing."

"Or if I badger him until he gets fed up with me," Fluey said. "That usually works."

And with that, Fluey returned to Big D's office, to ask about the girls coming along on the trip to India.

"I don't know why in the world you're so hung up on that Critch girl," Big D said, not bothering to look up from his paperwork. Fluey knew Big D didn't particularly like Danalleah, and he didn't approve of their relationship. The only reason the chief didn't try to break them up was because he worried about having a "Romeo and Juliet" scenario on his hands if he did, and everybody knows how _that_ story ended.

"Come on, chief," Fluey said. "Shawn, FG, and Dani almost _never_ get to do anything around here, and FG only gets to see some action only part of the time."

"I have no problems with Agent Fluid Girl or Ms. Smith going with us," Big D said. "It's Critch I have the issues with."

"How many times do I have to say this, chief? She's _nothing_ like her mother! You just don't like her because she's the daughter of Cronella Critch."

"I'll take the fifth on that one, thank you very much. However, since I am not in the mood to hear you pester me over this, so let's just save a lot of time. The girls can come along with us."

"Thanks, chief!"

And with that, Fluey ran back to the mail room to tell the girls the news.


	2. Family Reunion

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: I forgot to mention, four of the characters you will meet in this chapter (Tara, Arjun, Rahoul, and Maya) are named after characters in the game that inspired this story. They are *not* the same characters from the game, just named after them (because I couldn't think of anything better)._

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><p>The next day, Big D, the Impossibles, Skittles, and the girls were aboard one of the SSHQ's jets, on their way to India.<p>

"I still don't see why we couldn't have taken the Impossi-Jet," Fluey said. "Or one of the jets with the gigantic cargo holds, then we could've taken it with us."

"Believe me, Fluid," Big D said. "Where we're going, your car wouldn't be of much use."

"Where are we going, anyway, chief?" Shawn asked.

"A small village in India known as Cherai," Big D said. "A lot of it is thick jungle, which is too thick to see through from your car when it's in jet mode, and the roads are not meant to be driven on with a car. There has been some modernization to the village over the years, but concrete roads were never one of them. My old friend, Rohit Patel, lived there all his life. He used to be a guard at the Taj Mahal before he retired. I was stationed in India right after I joined the Secret Security Headquarters. It was my very first assignment."

"Is there were you guys met?" Shawn asked.

"No, I had known Rohit long before that," Big D said. "When he learned I was going to be stationed in India, he invited me to stay with him."

"How long were you in India on this assignment?" Multi asked, as Skittles jumped off his lap, and onto Big D's.

"Quite awhile," Big D said, petting the super puppy. "It was quite a big assignment, especially for a rookie agent. I was assigned to guard the Maharaja himself. There had been an attempt on his life, and he called the agency, wanted some extra security. It was a dangerous assignment, and I think they only sent me because I knew India quite well."

"Been there before you joined up with HQ, huh?" Fluey asked.

"Yes, you might say that," Big D replied. "I don't know if I would."

"_What_?" Fluey asked, shooting the chief a weird look. "What in the world does _that_ mean?"

"Never mind," Big D said. "I'll tell you some other time."

"Get back to your assignment, chief," Multi said, changing the subject. "We want to know more details."

"Very well," Big D said. "When I was at the palace, Rohit and I noticed the court magician was acting very suspiciously. I'm sure you inherited that sixth sense you have from me, Fluid. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We decided to spy on him, and, as it turned out, our hunch was right. The court magician was plotting against the maharaja. He was going to use his magic to kill him and take the throne."

"How did you stop him?" Coiley asked.

"Rohit and I reported to the rest of the maharaja's guards what we saw," Big D said. "And they, in turn, reported to the maharaja, and he ordered us to arrest the magician. The magician went to his secret laboratory every day at the same time, so we decided to stake it out. Then, we stormed inside. The magician was not pleased with this, and he tried to escape."

"I bet a few well placed karate moves prevented _that_, huh, chief?" Fluey asked.

"That's one way of putting it," Big D said. "But yes, I managed to get the drop on him with the martial arts. I had expected the maharaja to execute him, but he didn't. He just banished the magician to the hills. I hadn't heard anything from him since then."

"Do you think he's still alive?" Danalleah asked. "Maybe that's the reason your friend called you?"

"That is something I'm not sure of," Big D said. "I'm sure we'll find out more once we get to Sita's house."

Finally, the plane landed in India, and our heroes set forth toward the village of Cherai, via pick-up truck for the time being (as the Impossi-Mobile was left in Megatropolis). Big D had been right about one thing, however. Cherai _was_ practically nothing but jungle. Our heroes went as far as they could in the truck, but stopped when the road turned into a dirt path.

"It's not far from here," Big D said. "And believe me, it's not as bad as it looks."

"Just tell me they have running water and electricity," Shawn said.

"Yes," Big D said, then he sighed. "You girls are _far_ too civilized."

Big D led the group down the path, telling them not to use their code names while they were there, even though the person they were seeing already knew the chief was bringing a couple of agents with him. The group walked until they saw a large house. There was an older Indian woman standing on the front porch. She wore a yellow sari with magenta accents, and her hair was gray, and in a long braid. She immediately ran down the steps of the porch, and down the path, straight into Big D, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Davis, I am so happy to see you!" she shouted. "How long as it been? Fifteen, sixteen years?"

"Sixteen," Big D said. "And I hope this meeting will be under better circumstances than our last one, Sita, considering the last time we saw each other was Jackson's funeral."

The woman nodded. Big D turned to the others and was about to say something, but before he could, someone came out of the house. It was a younger woman, possibly in her late twenties, or early to mid thirties. Her hair was also in a long braid, except it was black instead of gray, and her clothes were more contemporary. She ran down the path, and flung her arms around Big D's neck, nearly knocking him over like the older woman had.

"Is this who I think it is?" Big D asked, once the younger woman released the chief from her greeting.

"Yes," the older woman said, with a chuckle. "It's Tara, all right."

"Tara," Big D repeated, taking a good look at the younger woman. "You had to have been thirteen or fourteen when we last met. Just an awkward, gangly thing. I almost didn't recognize you."

"Hello, Uncle Davis," the younger woman said.

"Whoa, wait a minute, hold the phone here!" Fluey suddenly cut in. "Did she call you what I _think_ she called you, chief?"

"She did," Big D said, putting his arm around his grandson's shoulders. "Meet my sister-in-law, Sita Dawson, and my niece, Tara. Sita and Tara, this is Jackson's son, Franklin. He's actually one of the agents I brought with me."

"Uhhh, hi . . . ." Fluey said, a little uncertainly. This came as quite a shock to him, so it was going to take some time before it all sank in.

"And these are the other two agents I brought along," Big D said, indicating Multi and Coiley. "Mark Mills, and Calvin Collins, alias Multi Man and Coil Man. And Franklin's alias is Fluid Man. Collectively, they're known as . . . ."

"The Impossibles!" a high pitched voice shrieked suddenly.

Before anyone could say anything, three children (two boys and a girl) came racing out. The boys looked like they were around ten and eight, and the girl looked about six years of age.

"Mama, Mama, Mama!" the girl shouted, tugging on Tara's skirt. "It's the Impossibles! Are they going to play a concert here?"

"Wait, wait a minute," Tara laughed. Then she turned to the chief. "Uncle Davis, I'd like you to meet my children. These are Arjun, Rahoul, and Maya. And, as you've undoubtedly guessed, they _love_ the Impossibles."

"I've noticed," Big D said.

"Children, this is my uncle, Davis Dawson," Tara said. "And do you want to know something?"

"What, Mama?" Arjun, the ten-year-old, asked.

"You're going to like this, Maya," Tara said. "Your favorite Impossible is your cousin."

Maya let out a huge shriek of delight, and ran straight into Fluey, so hard she actually _did_ knock him off his feet. Then she latched onto him, and didn't want to let go. The others just laughed.

"She's got the makings of a First Class Fan Girl," Multi commented.

"Yeah, man, this is gonna get old fast," Fluey replied.

"All right, all right," Sita said, prying her granddaughter off Fluey. "That's enough now, Maya. I'm sure your cousin and his friends are tired after their trip."

"Good idea," Fluey said. "I think I need a minute to lie down and let this sink in."


	3. Abduction

The group walked into the house in order to get settled. Once they had, and the necessary introductions had been made, everyone gathered in the dining room for dinner.

"So what's this sister-in-law jazz, boss?" Fluey asked.

"Actually, Sita is my _ex_-sister-in-law," Big D said. "She and my brother were married for a time, but they divorced awhile ago."

"You have a brother, chief?" Coiley asked.

"Yes, and a sister," Big D said. "Neither of which I've seen in quite some time, however."

"Is that why you've never told me these things?" Fluey asked.

"Partly yes," Big D said. "And partly because I enjoy seeing your expression once you _do_ find out about these things. You're not the only one in this family with a sense of humor, young man."

"Very funny," Fluey said, throwing his grandfather a dirty look.

"So what did you call me over here for, anyway, Sita?" Big D asked, not bothering to acknowledge his grandson's remark.

"I'll tell you about it a little later," Sita replied. "I don't really want to go into it in front of the children."

"Understandable," Big D nodded.

"Is it that bad?" Coiley asked.

"I promise, I'll explain everything after the children are in bed," Sita said.

And that was all there was to that. After dinner, the Impossibles ran through a couple of songs for Fluey's cousins, and they let them play with Skittles, who was relishing in the attention. Then the kids introduced Skittles to the family cat, Raja, who wasn't too keen on having a dog in his domain. He hissed at Skittles, and darted into Sita's room and hid under the bed. It was, after all, a cat's natural reaction to meeting a dog.

After all of that, it was time for the kids to get to bed, though they didn't want to go to bed, especially not Maya, who began clinging to Fluey's leg and wouldn't let go.

"Can't we stay up a little longer, Mama?" she begged.

"No, you have to go to bed," Tara said, managing to pry Maya loose. "You have school tomorrow."

"Awwww . . . . ." Maya groaned. Then she turned to Sita. "Tell us the story, Grandma!"

"Yeah, Grandma, tell us the story!" Arjun shouted.

"Yeah, Grandma, please?" Rahoul chimed in.

All three of them were talking at the same time, begging Sita to tell them "the story."

"All right, all right," Sita laughed. "I'll tell you the story. Just go get ready for bed first."

"Yaaayyy!" Maya shouted, and she and her brothers ran off to get ready for bed.

"Something tells me this is a good story," Coiley said.

"Yes," Sita said. "Davis, you and the boys may want to listen in as well. Part of the story pertains to why I called you."

Within ten minutes, the entire group was gathered in the den of the house. Sita sat in a rocking chair, while Tara and Big D were on the sofa, and the Impossibles, the girls, Skittles, and the kids were seated on the floor.

"A very long time ago," Sita said, "there lived a great treasure hunter named Wyatt. He heard about a legend of a great, great treasure, hidden in the hills. The treasure was said to be cursed, but Wyatt didn't believe the stories. It is said he found the treasure and hid it in his house, but mysteriously, he died shortly thereafter, and no one knows how. Some say he succumbed to the curse of the treasure. No one knows what happened to the treasure, either. It is said the treasure is still hidden in Wyatt's abandoned house, but everyone who has gone to look for it has succumbed to the curse."

"Where is the house, Grandma?" Rahoul asked.

"Somewhere in the forest," Sita said. "Just . . . . . somewhere."

"If it really exists, that is," Arjun said. "I don't think it does. It's just a story."

"I know," Rahoul said. "But it's fun to pretend it does."

"All right, you guys," Tara said. "You've had your story, now it's off to bed with you."

And with that, the kids got up, and went off to bed. Once they were gone, Sita led our heroes to another room, so the children wouldn't hear her.

"So what is this all about?" Big D asked.

"It's hard to believe, Davis," Sita said. "But that story I was telling the children . . . . it's actually true. People from the village have been venturing into Wyatt's house in search of the treasure, but everyone who goes inside winds up dead."

"It happened to my husband two years ago," Tara said. "He wanted to find the treasure. He didn't believe in the curse. Three days passed, and we hadn't heard from him. The villagers went to look for him but . . . . ."

"They never found him?" Shawn asked.

"They found him all right," Tara said. "Except . . . . . when they found him, he was dead."

"That's what happens to anyone who goes looking for that treasure," Sita explained. "Their bodies are found in the forest around Wyatt's house."

"What did you tell your kids?" FG asked.

"We only told them part of the truth," Tara said. "We said that their father was involved in an accident and died. We didn't want to go into exactly _how_ he died, though."

"The thing is, the population of Cherai has decreased rapidly," Sita said. "All because of the treasure."

"So . . . . you want us to investigate this curse or something?" Fluey asked.

"Well . . . ." Sita said. "Sort of. If you can get in there without succumbing to the curse . . . ."

"I'm not so sure about that," Big D said. "The boys can do the impossible, sure, but I'm not positive even _they_ can handle this one."

"So what do we do?" Coiley asked.

"I need to think this one over a bit," Big D said.

"I have an idea," Danalleah said. "I brought one of my magic books with me. Maybe I can find out something about this cursed treasure."

"If you wish," Big D said. Then, without another word he left the room. Danalleah sighed.

"I don't get why he doesn't like me," she said. "I know he doesn't."

"Don't feel bad about it, Dani," Fluey said. "He doesn't get why I like you, either. I think it has something to do with your mother. The whole the apple doesn't fall far from the tree bit."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Danalleah said. Then she stifled a yawn. "Maybe I'll have a look at the book tomorrow. I'm getting sleepy."

"Me too," Coiley admitted. "I think that long plane ride is catching up to us."

"I hate jet lag," Shawn said.

"Definitely time to hit the sack," FG said. "You coming, Franky?"

"Nah, I'm gonna go catch up with the chief," Fluey said. "Dig you guys later."

The others nodded, and followed Sita and Tara as they showed them their rooms. Fluey found Big D outside on the porch, looking out into the forest.

"Hi, chief," he said. "What are you looking at?"

"The village," Big D said. "I haven't been here in thirty-five years. It hasn't changed much since then."

"Kind of hard to take it in when it's starting to get too dark to see, isn't it?"

"Wise guy."

Fluey laughed, and looked out at the village. He couldn't see much, though.

"This would be a good place to hide out from the crazy fans," he said. "It's nice and quiet here. And out in the middle of nowhere. They'd never find us."

"Enough with the smart aleck remarks, Fluid," Big D said. "You're spoiling the mood."

"Sorry, chief," Fluey said.

"Actually, I'm glad this trip came up. I had always wanted to bring your father, your grandmother, and your sister here to see Cherai. There's a lot more to this place than just jungle. Unfortunately, I never got the chance. Before I became chief, I was about as busy as you Impossibles. After I became chief, the opportunity just never came up, and, after the Moonstone incident, your sister has no desire to see India whatsoever."

Fluey nodded, remembering _that_ adventure. He considered it one of the worst cases he had ever been involved in.

"But, really, it _is_ a beautiful country," Big D continued. "Maybe after we wrap up this case, you and I could stay here a few extra days, just the two of us. That way, I can show you the entire village of Cherai, as well as the Taj Mahal, the Ganges River, and some other sights."

"Just so long as it's not the Black Hole of Calcutta," Fluey said. "Because I've already seen _that._"

"Oh you have, have you?" Big D asked.

"Sure!" Fluey shouted. "Have you ever seen FG's closet? Everybody calls it the Black Hole of Calcutta because it's such a mess in there!"

"I give up," Big D sighed. "Don't stay up too late. We have a lot to do for this investigation."

"Gotcha, chief," Fluey said, and the chief went back inside.

Fluey leaned against the porch railing and looked out into the forest for a little while longer. All he could hear were the crickets chirping and a few birds.

"I could get used to this," he said. He liked the quiet of this place. No screaming teenage girls gathered around hotels keeping him, and Multi and Coiley, awake at night while they were on tour.

Fluey then stood up straight, yawned, and stretched. It was time for him to hit the hay. He was just about to go inside the house, when something caught his eye. It was a small light, coming from the forest, brighter than any of the lanterns around the outside of Sita's house, and the other houses in the village. He found he couldn't take his eyes off this light.

"I wonder . . . . ." he said. "Could that light be coming from that Wyatt guy's house?"

Fluey thought that over for a few minutes. Then he took his transformer out of his pocket, and pushed the green button on it. In a swirl of green and blue, he converted to his superhero alter ego.

"I'm gonna go check this out," he said. "Maybe it'll give us an insight on this curse. Rally ho ho!"

With that, Fluey went into a partial liquid conversion, and flew forward, heading toward the strange light. He reached a house with a high gate, but it was open, and the door to the house was unlocked. Fluey wasn't really all that surprised, considering the story Sita had told. After all, who would want to live in a house that was said to have a cursed treasure in it? He kept looking around the rooms for awhile, when he suddenly felt someone, or some_thing_, grab his arm,

"Yike!" he shouted, just as a hand clapped over his mouth.

"Sshhh!" a familiar voice hissed. "Quiet, or else you'll attract someone's attention!"

The mystery person took his hand off Fluey's mouth, which gave the dark-haired hero a chance to see who was with him.

"Chief?" he asked, incredulously. "Sheesh, Big D, what are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

"My apologies," Big D said. "I saw you convert to your superhero form, and I followed you, knowing your knack for landing yourself into a situation. Just what do you think you're doing here at this time of night?"

"I saw this light, and I wanted to investigate it," Fluey said.

"We'll investigate this place tomorrow morning," Big D said. "It's far too dangerous to be here at night. Now come on. We have to get out of here before . . . . ."

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blasted into the room, which blew out every last lantern. An evil laugh was heard then, and a form began to take shape in the doorway.

"Before what, Agent Dawson?" a voice asked. The mere sound of it began to send chills up Fluey's spine. The shape then morphed into an old man with a long, white beard, wearing a long, dark red robe, and carrying some sort of staff. Fluey noticed his fingernails had to have been at least five inches long.

"Scorpius," Big D said.

"Ahhh, I'm so pleased you remember me," the man said. "And I'm also pleased that you have finally returned to Cherai. It's been far too long since we last met. I was afraid you wouldn't remember me."

"I suppose I can assume you're the one behind this cursed treasure?" Big D asked.

"I am," Scorpius said. "But the treasure is no longer here. It's in my castle. The one I had been banished to after _you_ ruined my plans on becoming the maharaja of all of India!"

"I couldn't let you do it, Scorpius. Once you gained control of India, the entire world would be next!"

"I've spent thirty-five years waiting your return, Dawson. Laying in wait in this old house. I had to do away with anyone who came looking for that treasure, when I found out it wasn't you. Now, at last, I can have my revenge!"

"Not if I can help it, buster!" Fluey shouted, and he went into a partial conversion, with his fist outstretched. "Rally ho ho!"

Fluey streamed forward as fast as he could go, and slugged Scorpius right in the face. The blow knocked the evil magician off his feet. Big D used that chance to give him a karate chop in the back of the neck.

"I see you still have your martial arts skills," Scorpius said as he started to give up.

"Yeah, man!" Fluey shouted. "And he taught me everything he knows, too! Check out this move, chief. I added a little of my own twist on it."

Fluey jumped into the air, performed a flip, converted to liquid, and slammed his fist right into Scorpius's stomach. Then he went into a miniature tidal wave, and splashed over the magician, knocking him right into the wall.

"Quite the little spitfire, aren't we?" Scorpius said. Then he held up his staff, and it began glowing. "Well, little man, let's see how you like _this_!"

The glow surrounding Scorpius's staff suddenly surrounded Fluey, and he converted to liquid, against his will, and was thrown into the wall, head first.

"Ow!" he shouted. "Anybody get the license number of that truck?"

"I do so _love_ water bending," Scorpius laughed.

"I'll bend _you_ in a minute!" Big D shouted, giving Scorpius a sock to the jaw. "I may be thirty-five years older than when we first met, Scorpius, but I'm by no means weak and defenseless!"

"We'll just see about that," Scorpius said, and he was about to use his staff on Big D, but the chief kicked it out of his hand using his karate.

"What's the matter, Scorpius?" he asked. "Afraid to fight hand to hand?"

"You're going to pay for that, Dawson!" Scorpius shouted, and the two of them began exchanging blows, via martial arts.

Fluey shook his head to regain his composure. He was about to convert again to help the chief, when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, and hoisted into the air.

"Hey!" he shouted, just as a hand covered his mouth. He tried to go into a conversion to escape, but he found he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't convert.

By that time, Big D gave a blow to Scorpius, which knocked him to the ground. He turned toward his grandson, and gasped. Fluey was in the clutches of some sort of gargoyle. While Big D's attention was diverted, Scorpius got up, picked up his staff, and blasted the chief with it. Big D let out a scream, and fell to the floor. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. That magical blast knocked the wind right out of him. Scorpius then grabbed a piece of rope, and used it to tie the chief's hands behind his back. Then he grabbed the back of his collar, and pulled him to his feet.

"Gotcha now, Dawson," he said. "Now then, perhaps you'll be a little more cooperative, now that I have one of your agents in my power."

"You must be out of your mind, Scorpius!" Big D shouted. "You leave my agent out of this! He is of no concern to you!"

"Oh?" Scorpius said. "We'll see about that. If you're any kind of chief, Dawson, then you will know the life of an innocent person, especially that of a child, is worth more than that of your own. You say the boy has nothing to do with this? Well, then, give yourself up, and I won't do a thing to the boy."

"And if I refuse?" Big D asked.

"Then he'll be sleeping with the fishes tonight," Scorpius said. "My gargoyle is waiting for me to give the word to take him to the Ganges and drown him!"

"Mmmph!" Fluey shouted, shaking his head, trying to tell Big D not to give in. Big D looked up at the gargoyle, and sighed. He didn't have a choice, and he certainly did _not_ want any harm to come to his grandson.

"All right," Big D said. "I'll do anything you say. Just don't hurt the boy. He has nothing to do with this."

"Very well," Scorpius said. Then he signaled his gargoyle to come down, which he did. Scorpius then grabbed Fluey by the arm.

"Deactivate your powers, boy!" he demanded.

Fluey glared at the magician, and pushed the blue button on his transformer, converting back to his rock 'n roller form. Scorpius then took the transformer, and dragged Fluey over to a post, then flung the teenager into it. Then he signaled his gargoyle.

"Tie him up and gag him," he ordered.

"I told you not to hurt him!" Big D shouted.

"I'm not _going_ to hurt him," Scorpius assured Big D, as he blindfolded the chief. "I just can't have him following me. And to make sure he doesn't . . . ."

Scorpius walked over, and fastened a pair of heavy metal shackles to Fluey's wrists, positioning them behind the post, using a chain to connect them. Fluey groaned, knowing he'd never be able to maneuver his hands out of them. The shackles also blocked him from reaching the distress signal button on his communicator. Once he was bound and gagged, Scorpius placed his transformer on the top of a high shelf. Then he waved his staff around.

"Even if you _did_ manage to get free, little man," he said, "I've cast a spell on the entire valley. No one will be able to get inside this house, and no one will be able to find my castle, either."

Fluey glared at the magician. Scorpius just snickered, and walked over to the chief, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Now then," he said. "Let's be off to my castle, Dawson. There, I'll be able to come up with a more appropriate way to dispose if you and get my revenge."

With a maniacal laugh, Scorpius waved his staff, and he, his gargoyle, and Big D disappeared. Fluey writhed around, trying to get free, but it was no use. The only thing he could do was sit there and wait, hoping one of the others would find him, before it was too late.


	4. Into the Jungle

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please forgive me if Danalleah seems to be a little "Mary Sue"-ish in this chapter (look it up if you don't know what "Mary Sue" in fanfic terms means)._

* * *

><p>When Scorpius arrived at his castle, he led Big D down to his dungeon, and shoved him into one of the cells. Big D groaned, and managed to get to his feet (though it wasn't easy, considering his hands were still tied behind his back, not to mention he was still blindfolded).<p>

"And just how long do you plan on keeping me in here?" he asked, as Scorpius locked the cell door.

"Until I come up with an appropriate way to dispose of you," Scorpius said. "I don't want to do it too quickly, and deprive myself of watching you suffer, and I don't want to do it too slowly, and become bored with waiting for you to die."

"You know you'll never get away with this. I have two other agents back in the village. They'll rescue their team mate, and once he informs them of the situation, they'll come for me."

"I'd like to see them try. Even if your other agents managed to get in Wyatt's house and find that little spitfire, they'll never find the castle. I've already made sure of _that_!"

"Never underestimate the Impossibles, Scorpius. They're my top agents. They have never let me down before, and I'm sure they won't let me down now."

"I admire your optimism, Dawson. Let them try to come to your rescue. Just let them try!"

And with that, Scorpius left the dungeon, laughing maniacally. Big D said nothing, and began to maneuver his hands around. He couldn't get his hands out of the ropes binding them, but he did manage to reach the tracking device in his communicator, and he activated it. Then, he sat down on the floor against the wall. It was about all he could do at the time.

"They'll come," he said. "He doesn't know the Impossibles like I do. They'll come through. They haven't failed me yet, and I know they don't intent to start now."

Back at Sita's house, Danalleah woke up with a start. She had just awakened from an intense nightmare, where a man with a long white beard and five inch long fingernails, wearing a dark red robe grabbed Fluey, and disappeared with him. Sita's cat, Raja (a brown Abyssinian), was sleeping on her bed, and he awoke as well, looking at the teen witch in surprise.

"Prrrow?" he meowed, as if he was asking her "what's up?"

"Something's wrong," she said, stroking the cat from his head to his tail. "I can feel it. Shawn? FG? Are you awake?"

"What is it, Danalleah?" Shawn grumbled.

"Yeah, we're trying to sleep," FG said, yawning. "The sun isn't even up yet!"

"Something's up," Danalleah said. "I just got this funny feeling in my stomach."

"It's probably just indigestion from last night's dinner," Shawn said. "Go back to sleep!"

"But . . . . but I just dreamt that Fluey is in trouble!" Danalleah persisted. "What if that dream _wasn't_ a dream? What if . . . ."

Danalleah was cut off from her sentence when she was suddenly hit with a pillow, courtesy of FG.

"Danalleah, _go back to sleep_!" FG shouted. "Tell us when the sun's up!"

Danalleah sighed. She knew FG and Shawn were late sleepers. She had spent several weekends over at FG's house (where Shawn was also living), and they did not like to be disturbed usually before eight in the morning. So Danalleah got up, and went to the guest room the boys were sharing. She opened the door slowly, and gasped. She had hoped to see Fluey there, but he wasn't. As a matter of fact, it didn't even look like he'd been to bed at all. And she knew Fluey wouldn't be up this early, either. He'd sleep until noon if the others let him!

"Multi, Coiley!" she shouted, running into the room. "Wake up!"

"Danalleah, it's not even daylight yet!" Multi protested. "I'm ex_haust_ed from that flight!"

"But . . . . but I think Fluey might be in trouble," Danalleah persisted. "I had this dream, and . . . . ."

"Come back when the sun's up," Coiley muttered. "We're all jet-lagged."

"Yeah, Danalleah," Multi said, grabbing his pillow, and covering his head with it. "Besides which, I'm too tired to even _think_ straight!"

"If it's important, check with Big D," Coiley said, stifling a yawn. "Jet lag or not, he's usually awake at this hour."

Danalleah looked at Skittles, but she was fast asleep, snuggled up under Multi's arm as if she were his teddy bear. Danalleah didn't have the heart to wake her up. She just sighed, and left the room. Raja followed, and began rubbing up against the blond girl's legs, purring. Danalleah picked him up, and scratched the side of his head. Raja began purring like an outboard motor, and snuggled up to Danalleah, which calmed her down a bit, but she was still nervous. She finally put Raja down, and went to Big D's room. She found it empty, but like Multi said, he was usually up before the crack of dawn. So she started searching the house. Sita, Tara, and the children were all sleeping soundly, and Danalleah didn't have the heart to wake them. Then she searched all over the house, and even outside for Big D, but she couldn't find him. She began to worry. This just wasn't like Big D. He wouldn't go off and not tell anyone where he was going. There wasn't a note inside the house or anything. Immediately, Danalleah went back to the room she was sharing with Shawn and FG, got dressed, and grabbed her compact communicator out of her purse. She opened the compact and began typing in the coordinates to Big D's communicator. The blip was showing he was somewhere far off in the distance, but Danalleah couldn't really tell where it was coming from. She tried Fluey's communicator next, and the blip showed he was somewhere down the path leading from Sita's house to the village.

"I don't think I'll be able to get the others to help me at this point," she said. "I'll have to handle this on my own."

Quickly, Danalleah grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, scribbled a note, and left it on a desk in the boys' room. Then, she set off down the path to Wyatt's house in order to find Fluey.

Danalleah walked down the path, littered with debris, and found Wyatt's house, but the gate was locked, and there didn't seem to be a way to open it.

"Too bad I left my broom back in Megatropolis," she said. "Then I could just fly right over this thing. I can't go back to Mrs. Dawson's house to get another one, either. I can't make just any broomstick fly. Wait a minute. I _can_ just fly over the gate!"

Danalleah then transformed herself into a bat, and began flapping. She flew over the bars of the gate, but slammed right into an invisible barrier, and she was unable to get through it. She squeaked a little, and then turned herself back into her human form.

"Someone must have put a spell on the house," she said. "I guess the only way to break it is to unlock the gate. There must be a key around here somewhere."

Danalleah began to look along the path and in the bushes, looking for a key or something. As she was searching, she spotted a stone nearby, with three symbols on it. They appeared to be an ear, an eye, and a mouth. She also saw a stone monkey laying on the ground amid the debris, and it's hands were covering it's eyes. It reminded Danalleah of one of the three wise monkeys she read about once: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil. She spotted another monkey statue with it's hands over it's ears. Then she saw another monkey statue with it's hands over it's mouth.

"This really weird," she said.

"It gets weirder," a voice said, suddenly.

"Who . . . . who said that?" Danalleah asked, nervously.

"I did," the voice said. Danalleah looked around, and saw a golden butterfly, sitting on an herb planted in the ground, was talking to her.

"Aaahhh!" she screamed, and stumbled backwards over the stone slab and fell flat on her backside.

"Don't be afraid," the butterfly said. "I'm here to help you. Those monkeys you found will open the gate."

"They will?" Danalleah asked. "How? And who are you, anyway?"

"I'm the Golden Butterfly. You can call me Goldie, if you like. You're a lucky girl. Not everyone can hear what I have to say. Listen, there's evil going on here in Cherai. You have to reach the castle of Scorpius and put a stop to his evil ways once and for all. You will need to gather several herbs, several gems, and several pieces of parchment that are scattered all over the jungle. Take this herb I'm sitting on. You'll need it later. Now, you must get inside Wyatt's house, because some of the things you need, and things that will prove to be useful later, are hidden inside. I have to go now. I'll be in touch!"

And with that, Goldie flew off, leaving a very bewildered Danalleah. She thought she was still dreaming. How could those three monkeys open the gate? She decided to just go with it, anyway, and plucked the herb, tucking it away in her purse for the time being. She then took the "Hear No Evil" monkey, and put it on the spot over the ear carving. She put the "See No Evil" monkey on the spot over the eye carving, and the "Speak No Evil" monkey on the spot over the mouth carving. Suddenly, the monkeys began sparkling, the padlock on the gate suddenly fell off, and the gate creaked open.

"Definitely magic's at work here," Danalleah said, as she walked through the gate. "Wow, this place looks deserted, and the door's locked. I'd better find a way to get inside."

Danalleah looked around the yard, and found several pieces of parchment scattered about, as well as six gemstones. She remembered the butterfly said she would need several gems, as several pieces of parchment, so she gathered them all, and pieced the torn pieces of the parchment together. There was something written on them, but she couldn't understand what it said.

"Looks like it's written in Hindi," she sighed. "Or something similar to Hindi. Well, whatever it is, I can't read it. But I'd better hang onto it. Now for the gems. Let's see . . . ."

Danalleah walked up to the door, and found six small holes carved in them. Each hole had a colored ring around it, and the rings matched the colors of the gems she had found.

"It's worth a shot," she said, and she walked up to the door, and placed the games in the corresponding holes. When she did that, the stone head at the top of the door opened it's mouth, and revealed a key. Danalleah grabbed it, and went to unlock the door. She stuck it in the keyhole and turned, and it sounded as if the door _did_ unlock, but there was something more to it.

"This is a weird lock," she said. The lock appeared to have symbols on sections of it. The symbols matched the ones on the parchment she found, except they were in a different order. She pondered this for awhile, and then snapped her fingers.

"Of course!" she shouted. "All I have to do is put the symbols on the door in the correct order to unlock the door! I can take care of this in a snap!"

And with that bad pun, Danalleah snapped her fingers, and the symbols on the lock re-arranged themselves until they matched the order of the symbols on the parchment. Once they were in the correct order, the lock began to open itself, and then the door slowly swung open. She ran through it, and found not only an inner courtyard, but the Golden Butterfly as well.

"Goldie!" she shouted.

"Hello," Goldie said. "I knew you'd be able to get in. But I have to tell you, there are more jewels and pieces of parchment to find other than the ones you found to get in. And don't forget to gather all the herbs along the way."

And with that, Goldie again fluttered off, leaving Danalleah completely confused. She just sighed, and picked a couple of herbs that were growing in the courtyard. Then she checked her compact. It showed Fluey was somewhere inside the house, so she went through a door, and found herself in the kitchen. Danalleah made a face. Cobwebs hung in every corner, rotten food littered the floor, and cockroaches were running to and fro. Danalleah let out a scream when one crawled past her. She checked her compact again. The blip was outside the area she was in, so it was obvious Fluey wasn't in the kitchen. But she still wanted to have a look around.

"Let's see . . . . ." she began. She opened a container and found an herb inside of it. She took it, and tucked it away in her purse. Then she heard something from outside. She didn't know what it was, though, but she grabbed a knife off the table, just in case. Sure, she could have used her magic on whatever it was, but being only a beginner, sometimes her spells didn't stick.

"Maybe it was just the wind," she said, but she held onto the knife anyway.

Danalleah searched everywhere in the kitchen until she reached a barrel that was sealed shut. She tried to use her magic to open it, but it wouldn't work. Whoever sealed it used black magic to close it, and Danalleah's magic wasn't strong enough to counteract black magic spells. She looked around for a way to open it, and found something beside the barrel. There were five coins, each with a different shape on them, a club, a circle, a square, a star, and a crescent moon. The lid also had ornaments that matched the pictures on the coins circling around. In the center of the drum there were five numbered slots, but they didn't number one through five. The numbers Danalleah saw were 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. She stared at the barrel for awhile, then at the coins.

"I wonder if these coins fit in these slots?" she said. "But they must go in a special order. But how do I find out the code?"

Danalleah pondered this awhile. She was never all that great at solving puzzles right off the bat. She had to think about it a little. Then, she began counting the club ornaments, and that's when it hit her.

"That's it!" she shouted. "The numbers on the center of the lid correspond with the numbers of the symbols. If I count the club symbols and put the club coin on the corresponding numbers, and do the same for the rest of them, maybe I'll be able to get the lid off!"

So quickly, Danalleah counted up the clubs on the lid, and put the coin in the appropriate spot. The minute she did, the clubs started to glow. She did the same with the other symbols, and each one she did, the ornaments on the lid began glowing. When all of them were glowing brightly, the lid loosened. Danalleah took it off, and found a burlap bag inside the barrel, tied with a piece of rope. She was unable to untie the knot to see what was inside, however.

"I know there's something in here," she said. "But how am I going to . . . . . of course! The knife!"

Danalleah grabbed the knife, cut into the bag. Inside was a rope ladder. Then she began to shiver a little. It was a bit chilly that morning, and there was a fire place nearby. Danalleah found a book of matches, took one out, lit it, and threw it into the fire place. The minute the fire got started, a key flew out of it.

"What the . . . ." Danalleah said, walking over to where the key had landed. She waited until the key was cool to the touch before she picked it up.

"Boy, that was weird!" she shouted. "Better hang onto it. It may come in handy."

Danalleah stuck the key into her purse, and activated her communicator again. She left the kitchen and went back to the courtyard. She followed the signal on her communicator, and went into another room. This one looked like a bedroom, and it was pretty tidy for a house that was supposed to be abandoned.

"Fluey!" she called out. "Fluey, where are you? Oh, I hope he didn't succumb to that cursed treasure!"

Danalleah continued looking around the room. She found another herb by the window, and grabbed it. She looked up at one of the planks in the ceiling. It looked like it was loose. There might have been something hidden in it. She converted to her bat form and flew up. The plank was loose, all right, but she couldn't loosen it any further than it was. She transformed back to her human form and thought this over.

"How can I take that plank off?" she said. "There must be something around this room I can use to . . . . . a ha! That's it! A crowbar!"

Danalleah grabbed the crowbar, stood on a chair, and began prying the plank from the ceiling. Inside was a glass eyeball.

"Oh, _ew_!" she shouted. Even though she _was_ half witch, things like this tended to gross her out. But she took the eyeball anyway, and plopped it into her purse.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, _ew_!" she grimaced. "Yuck! I'm _so_ glad that's only a glass eye and not a real one. If it were a real one . . . . . _eeeeuuuwwww_!"

Danalleah put the eye out of her mind for the moment, and continued searching the room, looking for secret doors or something like that. Her communicator wasn't helping much. As she was looking, she spotted a dresser, with a locked door.

"There's always something about a locked door in an abandoned house that's inviting," she said, pulling the key she found in the kitchen out of her purse. But the minute she got down to the floor, she noticed the key would be useless. It was another weird lock, consisting of some rotating disks, and a clock with three hands.

"Hmm," she said. "I wonder how this one works. Maybe I'll just spin the wheels and see what happens."

Danalleah began turning the discs on the clock lock, until she noticed the red lines on them. She looked at them thoughtfully, and then saw the blue, orange, and green discs above the clock lock, which corresponded with the blue, orange, and green hands on the clock.

"Let's see what happens if I align the discs," Danalleah said, and she began to turn the discs until the red lines were aligned properly. Once she did, Roman numerals appeared in the colored circles above them. Danalleah glanced at the three-handed clock, and found it had Roman numerals as well.

"Maybe if I position the blue hand to the number in the blue circle," she said, "and the orange hand to the number in the orange circle, and the green hand to the number in the green circle, that will open this door."

Danalleah then began moving the colored hands to the numbers in the corresponding circles. Sure enough, the lock opened, and inside was some sort of lamp.

"I don't know where I can use this, but I'd better take it with me," she said, using her magic to shrink it down to size so it would fit in her purse. "It _must_ be important somewhere, if someone went through the trouble of locking it somewhere with an elaborate lock like that."

Danalleah then left the room, positive Fluey wasn't in there, and returned to the courtyard. She checked her compact again, and was about to go into another room when she suddenly heard something from across the courtyard.

"Hlllp! _Hllllp!_"

Danalleah stashed her communicator into her purse, and ran toward the other room. She opened the door, and flipped on the light. Then she gasped.

"Fluey!" she shouted. Immediately, she ran over to him, and removed his gag.

"Whew, thanks, Dani," he said, though he sounded a little hoarse. "My hands are chained behind the post. Think you can undo them without the key?"

"Sure," Danalleah said, walking behind the post. She pointed her finger, and a small beam of light came out. When it subsided, the shackles unlocked, and fell to the floor. Then she got busy untying Fluey.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Fluey said, clearing his throat. "My throat's a little sore from screaming all night, but it was about all I could do. I couldn't get loose."

"What happened, anyway?"

"I saw this light and I went to investigate. Big D followed me out and we had a run in with this sorcerer, Scorpius, and . . . ."

"Did you just say Scorpius?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Ohhhhh . . . . . not good. Not good at all!"

"What's the matter?"

"He's one of the _most_ evil sorcerers in the entire world! Very few people have tangled with him and lived to tell about it. He doesn't let _any_one stand in his way, and if they _do_ get in his way . . . . . oooh, it's just too horrible!"

"Oh _no._ Come on! We've got to get my transformer! There's no time to lose if that's the case!"

"What's wrong?"

"Remember on the plane ride over here, Big D told us about his first SSHQ assignment? That court magician he tangled with _was_ Scorpius, and he kidnapped the chief! Before they left, that wizard tied me up so I wouldn't follow them. We have to hurry!"

"But shouldn't we get the others?"

"There's no time! We've got to start trying to find Scorpius's castle, _pronto!_ We've got to rescue Big D before something happens to him!"

Fluey then grabbed his transformer off the shelf where Scorpius had put it, pushed the green button, and converted to his superhero self. Then he programmed the coordinates from Big D's communicator into his wrist communicator, and headed for the room on the other side of the courtyard. Danalleah ran after him. She knew Fluey wouldn't be able to reach the castle alone, especially since he had been awake all night, and he looked tired.

"At least let me go with you!" she shouted, following. "You shouldn't be going alone in the state you're in!"

"I'm fine, Dani!" Fluey protested.

"You're not fine," Danalleah argued. "Look at yourself. You look like you're going to drop. You can't think straight, and you might wind up making a dumb decision that you wouldn't normally make, and then you'd be in trouble with no one around to help you. I'm going, and that's final!"

"Okay, okay," Fluey said. "But let's just go! I don't want to waste any more time!"

Danalleah nodded, all the while thinking, "like grandfather, like grandson." They went through the other room, and found another locked door. Danalleah took the key out of her purse and unlocked it. Once she and Fluey went through the door, they found a path that led to a gate. Beside the gate was a stone statue of a snake. Danalleah spied an herb nearby, and picked it up.

"What is this place?" Fluey asked.

"I think it's a snake temple," Danalleah said, plucking an herb out of the ground and stashing it in her purse.

"Good think Multi isn't here," Fluey said, looking at all of the snakes gathered around. "He'd have a freak attack."

"Do you want me to get rid of them?"

"Yeah . . . . I'm not afraid of snakes, but with so many of them around, and no way to tell which ones are poisonous and which ones aren't . . . . . why take chances?"

Danalleah nodded, and snapped her fingers. A snake charmer's flute appeared out of nowhere, and began playing that familiar tune heard in many a cartoon whenever there's a snake charmer. The flute began to attract the snakes, and they all slithered toward the music. Then, magically, the flute began leading the snakes away to the temple. Once they were gone, Danalleah tried to open the gate to the temple but it was locked.

"We have to figure out how to open it," she said.

"Oh, I can open it on the inside," Fluey said. "I don't get why you just don't turn into a bat and fly over. I'll be back in a splash, Dani. Rally ho ho!"

"Fluey, wait!" Danalleah shouted.

It was too late. Fluey went into a conversion, and practically flew over the gate. But instead of going over completely, he wound up crashing into a forcefield or something.

"Ow!" he shouted, and then fell to the ground. SPLAT!

"Oooohhh!" he moaned, as he converted back to his solid form. "Holy Mesopotamia, what _was_ that?"

"An invisible barrier," Danalleah explained, looking at the bump on Fluey's head.

"That must be one of the things Scorpius set up to keep us away from his castle. How do we get in?"

"We'll just have to look for a key or something."

Fluey nodded, and stood up, though he was a little unsteady. After all, he _did_ take a rather hard blow to his head, but he didn't want to let Danalleah know exactly how hard he hit that barrier. She would only tell him to go back to Sita's house and rest, and he didn't want to do that. His grandfather's life was at stake here.

"Hey, Fluey!" Danalleah called. "I think I found something!"

Fluey walked over to one of the stone pillars that held the gate, and saw a bunch of stone tiles, with an empty hole in it. The tiles wouldn't come out of the wall, but Fluey was able to slide a glowing snake tile to the empty space. Then he slid the tile that was under the snake tile up to the new empty space. He then noticed another glowing tile in the center of the wall.

"Hmmm . . . . ." he said, thoughtfully. "I just had a crazy idea. What if we slide these tiles until we get this glowing snake tile to the other glowing spot?"

"Good idea," Danalleah said. "Let's try it."

Danalleah and Fluey immediately got to work sliding tiles one at a time, going in a circular pattern in order to free up the other glowing tile. Once the snake tile was in the glowing tile, the gates creaked open. Fluey and Danalleah immediately went through them, and Fluey began looking around.

"Boy, this place is creepy," he said.

"Come on," Danalleah replied. "Help me look around for herbs, gems, and parchment pieces."

"What for?" Fluey asked.

"This is going to sound crazy, but a golden butterfly told me to. She said we'll need them to defeat Scorpius."

"You're right. It does sound crazy. But I'm just gonna go along with it, anyway."

Fluey and Danalleah began looking around, Fluey on one side and Danalleah on the other. Fluey came across a table, or an altar of some kind.

"Hey, Dani!" he called. "Come here, I think I found something!"

"What is it?" Danalleah asked, as she plucked another herb.

"I don't know," Fluey said. "But my instinct's telling me we should investigate it. Besides, it looks like something could go on top of this thing."

"Maybe the lamp I found at Wyatt's house," Danalleah said, taking the lamp out of her purse. Once it was out, it enlarged back to it's normal size, and Danalleah placed it on the table, or altar, or whatever it was. However, nothing happened.

"There must be something more to it," Fluey said. "Only I can't seem to think what."

"Hey, Fluey, down here!" Danalleah shouted, kneeling down to the ground. She pushed some foliage away, and revealed a stone picture of some kind. It was a bit scrambled.

"Man, someone is really one lousy artist," Fluey said.

"No, it might be a lock or something," Danalleah said, pushing a small, blue diamond on the picture. Four of the stones moved when she did. "Maybe if we put the picture together in the right order, something will happen."

"Good thinking," Fluey said. He and Danalleah immediately got to work rearranging the stones. It wasn't easy, and it was extremely frustrating, because every diamond they pushed on moved four stones, but they finally managed to do it. Once they got the picture in order, the tiles opened up, and revealed a blue gem stone.

"Ah ha!" Danalleah shouted, grabbing the stone.

"Great," Fluey said. "Now what?"

"Now we look around some more," Danalleah said.

The couple looked everywhere around the snake temple. Danalleah spotted an empty hole in an altar. The other areas were filled with snake idols.

"I don't get why one's missing," she said.

"Hey, Dani, get a load of this!" Fluey shouted. "This monkey's got a key, but he won't let go of it."

"Maybe we can distract him with some food," Danalleah said. "Look for a banana or something. I can't conjure one up. My magic needs a slight recharge."

"Right," Fluey said, and he started looking around. As he did, he suddenly began feeling dizzy, and everything was becoming blurry. He leaned against the altar, and held his hand to his forehead for a moment.

"Oooh boy . . . . ." he groaned.

"Fluey?" Danalleah asked. "Are you all right?"

"I . . . . I think . . . ." Fluey said. "I think so . . . . . I just . . . . oooohhhh . . . . ."

And with that, Fluey passed out. Danalleah gasped, and pulled him into a sitting position. She gently slapped his cheek, attempting to wake him up, but he was out like a light. Danalleah didn't know if the blow to his head caused him to pass out, or if it he was just exhausted from the events of the night before. Maybe it was a mix of both. In any case, Danalleah couldn't go anywhere at this point, anyway, so she just decided to sit there with Fluey, until he woke up.


	5. Follow the Leader

Multi woke up to the sound of rustling papers. He leaned his head up, and found Raja playing with something on the desk. Skittles woke up as well, yawned, and stretched. Rays of the sun were peaking through the blinds. Multi checked his watch.

"Six thirty," he said, stifling a yawn. He looked over at Coiley who was sacked out. "Might as well get up."

Multi stood up, yawned, and stretched. He was about to go over to Raja to see what the cat was playing with, when the door opened, and Shawn peeked in.

"Multi, are you up?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" Multi asked.

"Danalleah's gone. She was trying to get me and FG up earlier, but we told her to go back to bed."

"Yeah, she did the same with us, and . . . . wait a minute. Fluey isn't here, either! He's _never_ up before I am!"

"Yeah, he could sleep until noon. I'm going to go look for Big D. Maybe Fluey's with him."

"Good idea."

Shawn ran down the hallway to Big D's room while Multi began getting dressed. Skittles began whining.

"I know, girl," Multi said, petting the little super pup. "I'm getting a funny feeling, too."

"Multi, Big D isn't anywhere!" Shawn shouted. "I checked everywhere in the house, and everywhere outside, too!"

"Maybe we should have listened to Danalleah," Multi said. "We should try to call her and . . . . ."

Multi was cut off when he heard Skittles barking. Raja stood on the desk, with his back arched, hissing at Skittles.

"Skittles!" Shawn scolded. "Leave Raja alone!"

"Wait a minute," Multi said. "Maybe Skittles is onto something here."

Multi walked over to the desk, and tried to grab the piece of paper Raja was playing with, but he just hissed and swiped at Multi's hand.

"Yeow!" he shouted. "Boy, is this cat ever territorial!"

"Maybe he's hungry," Shawn suggested. She grabbed a key from the shelf and used it to unlock a cabinet. Inside was a dish of cat food. Sita locked it up in the cabinet the night before so Skittles wouldn't get into the cat food.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty," Shawn said. She held the dish close enough for Raja to sniff at it. Then she began backing away, taking the dish with her.

"Rrrrow," Raja said, jumping off the desk and following Shawn. The redheaded girl put the dish on the floor, and Multi grabbed the piece of paper he had been playing with.

"It's a note from Danalleah," he said. "It says can't find Fluey or Big D anywhere. Gone to look for them. Please call me as soon as you get this message. Hand me my guitar, Shawn."

Shawn immediately grabbed Multi's guitar, and he immediately tuned in to the coordinates of Danalleah's compact.

"Multi to Danalleah," he said. "Come in, Danalleah."

"Hi, Multi," Danalleah said, as her face came on in the screen of Multi's guitar. "I take it you found my note."

"Yeah," Multi said. "Where are you, anyway?"

"A snake temple in the forest," Danalleah said. "I found Fluey, too. He's with me. He was at Wyatt's house, trying to investigate the treasure."

"What about the chief?"

"Brace yourself. Fluey said he's been kidnapped by one of the most horrible sorcerers in the world."

"What? Let me switch you off and get Fluey on the line."

"No, you can't. Fluey won't answer. He's unconscious right now. I don't know if it's from exhaustion from being up all night or if it was brought on from bashing his head against a magical barrier, and I'm just letting him sleep. Listen, Multi, Fluey and I can't do this ourselves. We need help. We're stuck where we are, and . . . ."

"Well, only Shawn and Skittles are up with me. Coiley's sacked out."

"And FG said she was going to strangle me if I didn't let her sleep," Shawn said, leaning over Multi's shoulder to get in on the conversation.

"Okay, we can call them later," Danalleah said. "What I need you to do is tune Shawn's tracker to Big D's communicator coordinates. It might be better if we split up. I don't think you should bring your guitar, Multi. It's a bit bulky."

"She's right," Multi said. "Shawn, we'll have to rely on your compact. When we get back to Megatropolis, I'll talk to Reggie about wrist trackers for me and Coiley."

"I have to warn you, though," Danalleah said. "Scorpius set up obstacles all around the jungle. He did this to keep anyone away from his castle. Fluey said that's where he took Big D. You guys also have to gather as many parchment pieces, gems, and herbs you can find. Just trust me. I'll explain everything later, I promise!"

"All right," Multi said. "We'll see you later then. Multi out."

Multi closed the connection, and pulled out his transformer. He pushed the red button on it, and converted to his superhero form. Skittles barked three times, and back flipped, turning into her super identity, Impossi-Pup.

"Reeeeowwww!" Raja shrieked when he saw both Multi's and Skittles' quick-change act, and he raced out of the room.

"What's this?" Shawn asked, picking up a piece of parchment. "Do you think this is one of the parchment pieces Danalleah was talking about?"

"It might be," Multi said, clipping on Impossi-Pup's leash. "Better hold onto it, anyway, Shawn. Danalleah said to collect any pieces we could find. I don't know where to look for gems, or herbs, but I'm sure Impossi-Pup will be able to sniff them out, won't you, girl?"

Impossi-Pup stood up on her hind legs, and saluted her master. Shawn went back to her room, grabbed her purse, folded the parchment, and put it inside. Then, the two redheads and the super puppy were off. Immediately, Impossi-Pup sniffed out their first herb.

"Thank goodness I invested in getting a big purse," Shawn said, as she plucked the herb from the ground. "I might need it to carry things."

"I'm sure my Multi's will come in handy if we find something that won't fit in your purse, too," Multi said.

And with that, the trio started heading into the jungle. Impossi-Pup sniffed around, and barked suddenly, going into her pointer routine.

_POING!_

"Good girl," Multi said. "Looks like she found an old well."

"And another herb," Shawn said, plucking the herb. "But what's that next to the well? Looks like a scarecrow."

"And a set of throwing knives," Multi said. "And that scarecrow looks like it has a target on it, and it keeps swaying back and forth. Maybe it's some kind of game. The pink ring is worth ten points, the white ring is worth twenty points, the yellow is with fifty points, but I don't know what the bullseye is worth."

"Look at this sign here. One hundred twenty points in four throws wins. Hmm. Win what?"

"One way to find out. Stand back, Shawn."

Multi, Shawn, and Impossi-Pup took a couple of steps back. Multi took the knives, and threw them one by one, wracking up one hundred twenty points. The scarecrow's eyes began glowing and it stopped swaying. Then, it's eyes closed for a moment, and it's mouth opened, revealing a light blue gem.

"Jackpot," Multi said, taking the gem and handing it to Shawn. "Come on. Let's check out the well."

"What about this?" Shawn asked, grabbing a wooden plank. "We may need it later."

"If you think so," Multi said, shrugging. "Let's go."

Shawn nodded, and left the plank where it was for the time being, and then followed her boyfriend and his dog down the well.

"Wow, this thing is deep!" Shawn shouted.

"I wish I brought a flashlight with me," Multi said. "Though I find it strange how big around this well is. Not to mention the steps. Okay, girl, start investigating!"

Impossi-Pup saluted, and began sniffing around the minute Multi took her leash off, using her super speed to make short work of it. She returned with a parchment piece in her mouth.

"Good girl, Impossi-Pup!" Shawn shouted, taking the parchment. Impossi-Pup sniffed around again, and discovered something else, too. It looked like a glass eyeball, like Danalleah had found at Wyatt's house.

"Ew, gross!" Shawn shouted. "I don't think I even _want_ to know!"

"Well, at least it's glass and not real," Multi said. "This place is really giving me the creeps. I hope I don't have to go into that snake temple Danalleah was talking about. I don't know if I could handle . . . . YAAAHHH!"

Shawn nearly jumped out of her skin at Multi's sudden shriek. She turned to look at what Multi was looking at, and rolled her eyes. It was nothing more than a statue of a snake.

"You moron!" she shouted, smacking her boyfriend in the shoulder. "It's just a statue!"

"Sorry," Multi said, picking up an axe nearby. "But you _know_ snakes of any size or shape or type freak me out! In any case, we might need this axe to get through that jungle up there."

"Or to protect yourself from any other snake statues," Shawn teased.

"Very funny," Multi said, sarcastically. Then, they both heard Impossi-Pup whining. She was pawing at an ornate door, trying to get inside of it, but it was locked. There were four sections on the door, each in a different color, and each had coins in slots on the door, and the coins had an animal carved into them. The red ones were elephants, the blue ones were toucans, the green ones were panthers, and the orange ones were peacocks.

"This is one weird lock," Multi said. "The ol' bobby pin lock pick trick won't work on it, that's for sure."

"It's funny," Shawn said. "But the elephant coins are between the toucan and the peacock, the panther coins are between the peacock and the elephant, the toucan coins are between the elephant and the panther, and the peacock coins are between the panther and the toucan."

"Hey, that's it!" Multi shouted, snapping his fingers. "Let's take the coins out and rearrange them. Maybe that'll open the door."

Multi grabbed two of the coins, but they wouldn't budge. They were stuck.

"That's really weird," he said. "Maybe if I take one coin out at a time . . . ."

Multi took one of the toucan coins, and managed to get it out, but it flew out of his hand, and into an empty slot on the door below the one it was in previously. Multi took it out, and tried to put it back, but it wouldn't move.

"Now _this_ is really crazy," he said.

"Let me see something," Shawn said, and she took one of the elephant coins out easily. It flew to the slot above the middle one in the door, jumping over the toucan coin. When she tried to take it out to put it back where it was originally, it wouldn't move.

"I think they can only move one way," Shawn said. "And can only jump over another one coin at a time. This Scorpius sure is a tricky sorcerer!"

"Well, let's see if we can figure this out," Multi said. "But _don't_ move any more coins. If we make a mistake, we're stuck. I don't see a way we can reset the puzzle."

"So what do we do?" Shawn asked.

Multi thought it over, and then he had an idea. He found some pebbles on the ground, and arranged them like the diagram on the door. Shawn got the hint immediately, and took a pad of paper and a pencil she always carried with her out of her purse, and wrote down everything Multi was doing. She also drew a sketch of the coins on the door and labeled them. Once Multi figured out how to solve the puzzle, he and Shawn began moving the elephant and toucan coins, and managed to switch them. When they did that, the large elephant symbol on the door glowed red, and the toucan symbol glowed blue. Then they got to work switching the positions of the panther and peacock coins, and once they were positioned, they glowed green and orange, respectively. Once they were all glowing, a door opened up in the wall, revealing a tunnel.

"Wow," Shawn said. "It looks like this leads to a river."

"I want to call Danalleah," Multi said. "She might need this snake statue thing at the snake temple, and we've got to get it to her some how. You go up and get that plank you found."

Shawn nodded, and handed Multi her compact. Then she went up the steps to retrieve the plank.

"Multi to Danalleah," he said. "Come in, Danalleah."

"Hi again," Danalleah said. "Where are you guys?"

"Apparently, we went down a different path than you did," Multi said. "We found some parchment pieces. Oddly enough, one was at Mrs. Dawson's. We found this snake statue thing, too, and I figured since you were at a snake temple . . . . ."

"Yeah, and one of the idols _is_ missing from the altar over here," Danalleah said.

"How are we supposed to get it to you? According to the tracker, you and Fluey are way off the path we're on."

"Well, I _do_ know a spell, and it's one of the few spells I've got mastered, thank goodness. Hang on a minute. I'm going to have to close the line so I can put my compact down. Danalleah out."

Danalleah closed her compact, and put it back in her purse for the time being. Then she put her fingers against her temples and concentrated. In a flash of sparkles, the snake idol appeared before her. Then she took her compact out, and punched something in.

"Danalleah to Multi," she said. "I think it worked!"

"It sure did," Multi said. "Thanks, Danalleah. That thing was giving me the creeps!"

"I think this spell is going to come in handy, just in case you and Shawn find something Fluey and I need, and Fluey and I find something you and Shawn need."

"Right. By the way, how is Fluey?"

"Still out like a light. I don't know, he may have a concussion or something. I can't transfer him back to the house, though. That will take most of my magic, and I think we'll need it."

"Well, keep an eye on him for now. Don't do anything until he wakes up, though, just in case you find a secret passage like Shawn and I did. I don't think it would be a good idea to leave him alone."

"Right, and he's too heavy for me to carry. Big D says he's just dead weight when he's asleep. I hope it's not too serious, though."

"I hope not either. We'll be in touch. Multi out."

Multi closed the connection just as Shawn returned down into the old well with the plank she had found.

"What happened to the snake statue thing?" she asked.

"Danalleah magically transferred it over to her and Fluey at the temple," Multi said. "She said it's one of the few spells she's mastered. She's also worried Fluey might have a concussion. He was still out cold when I called."

"That's not good," Shawn said.

"We'd better keep going," Multi said, clipping Impossi-Pup's leash back onto her collar. "We won't be of any help to them, _or_ Big D if we just stand here all day."

"Right, let's move out," Shawn replied.

"Rally ho!" they both shouted in unison, and went down the secret tunnel.

The tunnel led to a riverbank. The two redheads and Impossi-Pup began searching the area. Impossi-Pup barked, and yanked an herb out of the ground with her teeth, running it over to Shawn, who immediately put it in her purse. Multi cleared away some foliage while searching.

"Hey, Shawn!" he shouted. "Come over here!"

"What, Multi?" Shawn asked. Then she saw some kind of Indian relic. "What _is_ that thing?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's a figurine of an Indian god or something. I wonder what those slots carved in the rock are for?"

"Those are some pretty strange slots, though."

Impossi-Pup began sniffing at the figurine, and pawing at it. As she did, a piece of it fell to the ground.

"Whoa, easy, Skittles!" Multi shouted. Then he noticed the piece that had fallen off the statue matched the shape of one of the slots.

"Impossi-Pup, you're a genius!" Multi shouted, giving his super puppy a pat. "Pieces of this figure match the shape of the slots. All we have to do is find them, and place them."

Immediately, Multi and Shawn began pulling at pieces from the figurine to see which ones were loose. Then they matched them with the slots carved in the rock. Once they fit all the pieces in, the rock, and the figurine disappeared in a flash. In it's place was a small hole, and inside that hole was a yellow gem. Multi immediately picked it up, and handed it to Shawn.

"Here's another gem," he said, as Shawn put it in her purse. "Now how do we get across this river?"

"Can't you bridge it, Multi?" Shawn asked.

"It doesn't look like there's any place to bridge to," Multi said. "I'd rather have a dock or something. The ground on the other side from here may not be stable enough for me to get a good grip on it. Besides which, it's too far."

"Good point," Shawn said. "And it's too far to swim across, too. And we don't even know how far it is to another dock. Oh wait, look! There's a boat over there!"

"I don't think it's going to do us much good. I don't see any oars with it."

"Let me call Danalleah and Fluey."

Shawn took her compact out of her purse, and punched some buttons inside of it.

"Shawn to Danalleah," she said.

"What's up, Shawn?" Danalleah asked.

"You wouldn't happen to have found an oar or something, would you? We're kind of stuck."

"An oar? No, we didn't find anything like that. Sorry."

"Great," Shawn sighed as she and Danalleah signed off. Then she turned to Multi. "We're stranded here."

"Unfortunately, we can't go back and find another route," Multi said, looking at the blip from Big D's communicator. "According to the trackers, the fastest way to get to Big D is down this river."

"So what do we do?"

"I guess we just sit and wait."

Multi sat down on the ground, and Shawn followed. Impossi-Pup whimpered, and rested her head on Multi's leg. Multi began scratching her behind the ears. There wasn't much else they could do at the moment.


	6. Tracking

Coiley woke up to the sound of his guitar beeping. It was eight in the morning by now, and he was a little more awake than he had been.

"Coil here," he said.

"Coiley, it's me," Danalleah said. "We've got a situation and we need you and FG pronto."

"What's up?"

"It's kind of involved, but I'll explain."

And with that, Danalleah told Coiley what was going on. FG wandered into the room just in time to hear it, too.

"We need you to hone in on Big D's communicator," Danalleah said. "Multi and Shawn took one route, Fluey and I are on another route, and I'm pretty sure there's a third route. You're going to have to use FG's communicator, though. You may find things along the way that might be useful later, and I wouldn't recommend lugging around your guitar."

"But my communicator is audio only," FG said.

"We don't have a choice," Coiley said. "Give us as much details as you can, Danalleah. We'll need to know what to do."

As Danalleah went on to explain about the herbs, gems, and parchment pieces, Tara opened the door and entered the room.

"What's going on in here?" she asked.

"Slight situation over the cursed treasure," Coiley said. "The others are already investigating it, and we're about to join them. I think you, your mother, and your kids ought to stay here, Tara. It might be dangerous."

"Right," Tara said. "I don't want to get involved in something like _this_!"

"Come on, FG, we'd better get moving."

And with that, Coiley used his transformer to switch over to his superhero identity.

"Aren't you going to switch over?" Coiley asked.

"I can't," FG said. "Stupid me left my earrings back home."

There wasn't much either Coiley or FG could do about that, so they had to make do with Coiley's powers, and FG's communication system. Then, they went back to the girls' room to look for clues, when Danalleah told them Multi and Shawn had found a parchment piece in the boys' room. Coiley managed to find another piece of parchment in the girls' room, while FG found a peg jumping game, with shells instead of pegs, and began to play it.

"FG, we don't have time for games!" Coiley shouted.

"Oh come on, Coiley!" FG shouted. "I can't resist these games!"

Coiley groaned, and waited for FG to finish her game. After she left three of the shells, the box opened, revealing a dark red gem.

"Hey, Coiley, check this out!" she shouted. "Good thing I played this, huh?"

"Yeah," Coiley said, grabbing FG's purse and handing it to her. "Come on, we'd better get moving."

The two of them left the house then. Coiley plucked an herb he found, and, for some reason, grabbed a shovel laying by the house. FG gave him a weird look, as she set her bracelet communicator's tracking device to Big D's coordinates.

"What in the world did you grab _that_ thing for?" she asked.

"You never know," Coiley shrugged, and he and FG were off down a path into the jungle.

As they were walking along, FG picked an herb, and put it in her purse. Coiley was looking around, and spied a bunch of bananas on one of the trees. He sprang up and grabbed them.

"Boy, am I hungry," he said.

"How can you think of eating at a time like this?" FG asked. Suddenly, her bracelet began beeping, and she took the call.

"FG," she said.

"I forgot to mention," Danalleah said. "If you guys come across any bananas, let me know. Fluey and I have got a little monkey business involving a monkey holding a key and he won't let go of it."

"Funny you should mention bananas," FG said. "Coiley just grabbed a bunch of them. But how are we supposed to get them to you? I can't pick you guys up on my tracker!"

"Leave that to me. I've mastered this spell."

Danalleah closed the connection, and put her fingers to her temples. In a flash of sparkles, one of the bananas from Coiley's bunch appeared in her hand. Then, she re-established communication with FG.

"Okay, I got one," she said. "Thanks! Oh, and call me if you find an oar. Multi and Shawn are stuck, where they are, and they need an oar to get down a river."

"Check," FG said.

"How's Fluey doing?" Coiley asked, coming over.

"Well, I don't know," Danalleah admitted. "He's still sleeping it off. Multi said not to do anything until he woke up, which I hope will be soon."

"Us too," FG said. "We'll be in touch, Danalleah."

FG signed off, and she and Coiley continued down their path. They came to what looked like an old rest area, littered with junk. But they managed to find another herb, and another parchment piece, as well as an oar.

"Hey, FG, look!" Coiley shouted. "It's an old storage box!"

"Weird," FG said. "Can you open it?"

"No way, it's locked. And I don't see any keys around. Better call Danalleah and tell her we've found the oar she needed. Maybe that key she found opens this box."

"Good idea."

FG then tuned on on Danalleah's communicator. At the moment, Danalleah was sitting with Fluey's head in her lap, and she was stroking his hair. She didn't know what else she could do. She didn't want to leave Fluey by himself while he was still unconscious in order to continue her search for the chief. Finally, Fluey starting coming around.

"Ooohhh . . . ." he moaned. "What . . . . where am I?"

"Still at the snake temple," Danalleah said. "I'm glad you woke up, Fluey, you had me worried for a minute!"

"Hey . . . ." Fluey said, sitting up. "I think you're getting a transmission. Your compact's beeping."

"Oh, thanks," Danalleah said, slowly . She grabbed her compact and activated it. "Danalleah reporting."

"Hi," FG said. "We found the oar. But we've also found a storage box, but we can't open it. You said you found a key, so . . . ."

"Okay, hold on a minute," Danalleah said. "Let me get the oar to Multi and Shawn, and then I'll be right with you about the key. Stand by."

"You want me to . . . ." Fluey started.

"No, you rest a little more," Danalleah said, typing in something on her communicator. "Danalleah to Shawn. Come in."

"Shawn in," Shawn said. "Anything to report?"

"Yes," Danalleah said. "Coiley and FG are on the trail, and they found you an oar. I'll transfer it over to you guys. Not only can I transfer objects from me to you and vice versa, I can also transfer objects from Coiley and FG to you guys and vice versa. Stand by."

Danalleah went into her concentration bit, and in a flash of sparkles, the oar disappeared from Coiley and FG and reappeared to Multi and Shawn.

"Great!" Multi shouted. "We've got it, Danalleah!"

"Oh, good," Danalleah said. "Oh, more good news. Fluey finally woke up. He's a little groggy, though, but I think he'll be okay."

"Okay, good," Multi said. "We'd better get going. See you guys later!"

"Now for the key," Danalleah said, signing off. She grabbed the banana she transferred from Coiley and FG and threw it. The monkey shrieked and ran for it, dropping the key to the floor. Danalleah picked it up, and called FG.

"Stand by, guys," she said. "I'll transfer the key your way."

Danalleah closed her eyes and concentrated. The key then disappeared, and suddenly reappeared in Coiley's hand.

"Got it!" Coiley shouted. "Thanks, Danalleah! Come on, FG! Let's see if this fits in the box."

Coiley stuck the key in the box, and turned it. The door unlocked, and inside was a light green gem. FG immediately grabbed it, and stuck it in her purse.

"Come on," she said. "Something tells me we have a long way to go."

The duo continued making their way through the forest, until they came to a bridge, except some of the planks were broken.

"I can handle this," Coiley said, after FG grabbed another herb. "Grab on, FG."

"Ummm . . . . ." FG said. "If it's all the same to you, Coiley, I'd rather call somebody. I'm not comfortable with being the whole damsel in distress having to be carried over something, you know?"

"Gotcha," Coiley said. Before he sprang across, he saw something in the bushes. He reached up to grab it, and he nearly dropped it.

"Holy horrendous!" he shouted. "An eyeball!"

"Oh yuck!" FG shouted.

"Oh, wait a minute," Coiley said. "It's just a glass eyeball. Think maybe we should hold onto it?"

"Well, Danalleah said to hold onto anything that might come in handy," FG said, taking the eye and sticking it in her purse. "And you just never know."

"Right," Coiley said. "I'll wait for you on the other side, FG. Rally ho!"

And with that, Coiley sprang across the bridge. Normally, FG would have used her powers as well, but since she forgot her earrings (and one of her earrings was how she switched over to her super identity, Fluid Girl), she was stuck.

"FG to Shawn, come in," she said.

"Shawn in," Shawn said. "What's up, FG?"

"Do you guys know how I can get across a broken bridge? I can't use my powers because I left my earrings at home, and I refuse to be the helpless damsel and have Coiley carry me across."

"I knew that plank we found would come in handy. Stand by, FG. I need to call Danalleah. Otherwise, we don't have another way of getting it to you."

FG closed the connection and waited. It was about all she could do at the time. Suddenly, a wooden plank appeared before her. She called Shawn immediately.

"I got it, thanks!" she shouted. Then she signed off, and made her way across the bridge.

Coiley and FG continued, picking another herb along the way, until they came to a huge mountain of some kind.

"No way I can spring up that thing!" he shouted.

"We can't climb it, either," FG said. "Nobody said this was going to be easy. Can you drill through this thing?"

"No way," Coiley said. "But look at this. There are wheels and cables all over the side of this thing, and the center rock is loose. Maybe it's a secret passage."

"Yeah, but the cables are a mangled, tangled mess!" FG shouted.

"We'll just have to unmangle and untangle them," Coiley shrugged. "Come on."

Coiley and FG slowly began to untangle the cables. The task was tedious and frustrating, since the lines were tangled up badly, and it was hard to tell where one tangle ended and another began, but they continued until finally they got all the cables straightened out. Once they did, Coiley pulled a lever, and the loose rock opened up, revealing a secret tunnel.

"Come on, let's go!" he shouted.

"Rally ho!" both he and FG called out together, and they went through the tunnel. At the end of it, they found a beautiful, lush, green valley, and they were able to see a castle in the distance. FG checked her bracelet and turned to Coiley.

"That's where we need to be," she said.

"Right," Coiley said. "We'd better get started. It looks like a long walk."

And with that, the duo began walking toward the castle.

Meanwhile, Multi, Shawn, and Impossi-Pup were going down the river, following Shawn's navigation.

"I hope we get there soon," Multi said. "I'm getting nervous."

"So am I," Shawn said, and Impossi-Pup whined in agreement. "Hey, look, Multi! A flight of stairs!"

"Hang on," Multi said, grabbing a piece of rope and tying it to part of the boat. "I'll just bridge it. Rally ho!"

Multi duplicated and created a bridge from the boat to the riverbank, and Shawn and Impossi-Pup crossed. Once they were across, Multi retracted the duplicates, and the trio continued. They stopped when they came to a large cliff, and they realized they were at the bottom of it.

"According to my compact, Big D's up there somewhere," Shawn said.

"That's a long way up," Multi said, plucking an herb and handing it to Shawn. "I'm not sure even my multi's can handle something _this_ high!"

"I'd better call Danalleah," Shawn said, and she punched something in on her compact.

"Shawn to Danalleah," she said.

"What's up, Shawn?" Danalleah asked, popping in on the screen.

"Multi and I are at the bottom of this cliff," Shawn said. "And Multi's not sure his duplicates can reach the top of it. Do you have anything with you that you can send us?"

"Yeah, I found a rope ladder at that old house where I found Fluey," Danalleah said. "Stand by!"

Shawn waited, and within minutes, the rope ladder appeared. Shawn signed off with Danalleah, and turned to Multi.

"Well?" she asked.

"Okay, here's the thing," Multi said. "I'll be able to get up there solo. But I can't hang around for you two to use me as a ladder, and I definitely can't make it up there with passengers. I'm starting to get tired from all this walking. So I'll take the ladder, and lower it down to you so you can climb up."

"Okay," Shawn said. "That way, you can take a break while waiting for me and Skittles to . . . . . uhh . . . . . where's Skittles?"

"She was here a minute ago," Multi said, looking around. The duo then heard a bark, and saw Impossi-Pup going up the cliff, spinning her tail like a propeller.

"I didn't know she could do _that_!" Shawn shouted.

"I didn't, either," Multi said. "I've seen her hover before, but not like _that_! Oh well. Hand me the ladder. Rally ho!"

Multi duplicated upward and retracted his multi's when he reached the top of the cliff. Then he lowered the rope ladder and Shawn started climbing.

Back at the snake temple, Fluey was finally back on his feet. He was still a little groggy, but otherwise fine.

"Let's go, Dani," he said. "We've wasted enough time."

"Are you sure?" Danalleah asked. "That's a pretty bad bump on your head."

"For the millionth time, Dani, _yes_!" Fluey shouted, starting to get impatient. "I don't want to get to that castle only find Big D's corpse! I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much, so can we _please_ get going?"

"All right, all right. Let me just put this snake idol where it belongs first. We're going to have to backtrack, anyway. There's nowhere to go from here."

"Okay, okay."

Danalleah put the snake idol in the spot on the altar, and suddenly, a secret door in the ground opened up, revealing a staircase.

"Hey, man, dig that!" Fluey shouted. "A secret door! Come on! Maybe we won't have to back track after all!"

Fluey and Danalleah went down the stairway, and found themselves in an underground room of sorts.

"I wonder what this room was for?" Danalleah asked, as she grabbed an herb from the wall.

"Beats me," Fluey said, looking at a spot on the ground. "Hmm. I just noticed the dirt here looks like somebody's been digging in it. Did you get a shovel along the way?"

"No, I didn't. Why don't you call FG, and I'll call Shawn, and see if they found one."

"Check."

Fluey punched in something on his wrist communicator, and FG's face appeared in it.

"FM to FG," he said. "I hate to bug you, but do you guys have shovel on ya?"

"Hello to you, too, Franky," FG said, sarcastically. "How are you feeling?"

"Don't you start that, too!" Fluey shouted. "I'm _fine_, all right? Have you and Coiley found a shovel or not? We need one."

"Yeah, we have one," Coiley said, coming over.

"Okay, hang on," Fluey said, and then he turned to Danalleah, just as she was hanging up with Shawn.

"Coiley and FG have one," he said. "But how do we get it from there to here? I can't even see them on my communicator!"

"I'll show you," Danalleah said. Fluey watched as his girlfriend put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. Moments later, the shovel Coiley had picked up at Sita's house appeared.

"Wow!" he shouted. "How'd you do that?"

"It's magic," Danalleah said.

"Thanks, Coiley," Fluey said, taking the shovel. "We got it. Fluid out."

Fluey closed the connection, and began digging, while Danalleah looked around a little more. She was beginning to think they _would_ have to backtrack after all. There was just nowhere to go from here.

"Hey, Dani, look!" Fluey shouted, taking a yellow gem out of the hole. "Another gem."

"Great," Danalleah said, taking the gem and sticking it in her purse. "Unfortunately, we have a problem. I don't see anywhere to go."

"I do," Fluey said. "Look up here, Dani. A flight of stairs that leads to a gate."

Fluey and Danalleah ran up the stairs and tried to open the gate but it was locked. There were two sets of scales on either side of the gate, and several weights.

"Maybe I'll be able to unlock it from the other side," Fluey said.

"Fluey, please, don't try it," Danalleah said. "What if there's another magic barrier blocking it off?"

"I'm sure there isn't this time. Trust me. Rally ho ho!"

Danalleah covered her eyes with her hands. She didn't want to look. And sure enough, she was right. There _was_ another magic barrier blocking the way, and Fluey ran smack into it. WHAM!

"Ooooh, my aching head!" Fluey moaned, as he converted back to solid. "Okay, Dani. I promise next time, I'll listen to you. Owwwww!"

"Are you all right?" Danalleah asked.

"_Yes_," Fluey insisted, glaring at the blond witch for a minute. "Geesh. Just 'cause I passed out back there . . . . ."

"I'm sorry, but you've smashed your head twice already, and both times you hit it pretty hard," Danalleah said. "I don't want you hurting yourself again."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Fluey said. "I'm just worried about the chief, that's all. I think I know how to get in. This lock is similar to the one Multi, Coiley, and I encountered when we went to Austria to check out that supposedly haunted puppet theater. All we have to do is balance the scales, and the gate will open."

"Good idea," Danalleah said, and she and Fluey immediately got to work rearranging the weights so the scales were even. Once they were, the gate began rising, and the couple ran up a flight of stairs, leading to a valley.

"Oh, Fluey!" Danalleah shouted. "Look at this place! It's so beautiful!"

"Yeah," Fluey said. "But we can't stand around and take in the scenery, Dani. We've got more important things to do."

"Right," Danalleah said, snatching an herb from the ground.

"What's this?" Fluey asked, walking over to a bush. He moved the foliage away, revealing a rock structure. One of the rocks had a Buddha or something carved in it. He also noticed that the rocks moved from side to side.

"Hmm," he said. "I wonder . . . . nearly every puzzle Dani and I have come across had a gem hidden in it. Maybe if I solve this one, we'll get another gem."

Immediately, Fluey got to work sliding the rocks back and forth, until the rock with the carving reached the bottom of the structure. As soon as he slid the carving down, it smashed to pieces, revealing a diamond inside of it.

"Yeah, man!" he shouted, grabbing it.

"What is it, Fluey?" Danalleah asked, as she grabbed a watering can, which was, oddly enough, pretty full.

"I just found another gem," Fluey said, handing the diamond to Danalleah. "Come on. I have a feeling we're close to the castle!"

Fluey and Danalleah went up a hill, and came to an old bridge that looked like it was ready to collapse at any given moment. The duo stopped, and stared at it.

"Looks like it's the only way we can get across," Danalleah said.

"Yeah, but we don't really need it," Fluey said. "We both can just fly over it, can't we?"

"I guess you're right," Danalleah said, uncertainly. She wasn't so sure if Fluey could handle it. It looked pretty far, and Fluey was starting to look a little tired to her, and a bit glassy-eyed, and she was afraid he was going to pass out again if he over did it.

"Maybe before we do, though, we should take a rest for a minute or so," she said. "I'm, umm . . . . I'm feeling a little tired from all the walking we did, and all the magic transferring I've been doing."

"Oh," Fluey said. "Uhh, yeah, sure. Dani, sure. No problem. Yeah, taking five sounds pretty good to me, too."

Of course, Danalleah wasn't really all _that_ tired, but Fluey was being so stubborn about this whole mess, she didn't want him to bite her head off again over having him stop and rest. Truthfully, Fluey was feeling a little dizzy again, and he was afraid his powers would konk out on him halfway across the bridge, and then he'd be in _big_ trouble.

_I hope I can hold out,_ he thought, holding his hand to his aching head for the moment. _I've got to. I'm not gonna let a couple of bumps on the head stop me. And I won't stop until I reach the chief!_


	7. Puzzling Puzzles

After a brief rest, Multi, Impossi-Pup, and Shawn made their way down the path to the gates of the castle. Impossi-Pup began whimpering, and backing away from the gates.

"I know what you mean, girl," Shawn said, picking up the puppy and giving her a hug. "This place is creepy!"

"I'm not going to risk going over the gate with my copies," Multi said. "I might only succeed in knocking myself out like Fluey did. I don't want to take chances of there being an invisible wall or something here."

"So what do we do?" Shawn asked, as she plucked an herb. Multi looked closely at the gate, and it's bull head shape lock. The gate was completely rusted, and there was no way he'd be able to move it without a little oil.

"I guess we look around until we find something," he said.

Suddenly, Impossi-Pup barked, jumped out of Shawn's arms, and went into her pointer routine.

_POING!_

"Good girl, Impossi-Pup!" Multi shouted. "Look at this, Shawn. Skittles found an oil can, and it's filled with oil!"

"Now all we have to do is oil the gate and . . . . ." Shawn started.

"Easier said than done," Multi replied. "This Scorpius character is definitely no dummy. Look at what's carved in the bull's head. V and I. I think that's the Roman numeral for six. There's a container here that has the Roman numeral for twenty, and there are two more on either side for seven and thirteen. I don't know what they could mean, though. Hmmm."

Multi then opened the oil can and poured the oil into the container marked seven. Then he poured some into the container marked thirteen. Then he took the seven container and poured it into the one labeled twenty. He tried pouring the thirteen container into the seven container, but there was some left.

"Weird," he said. "All three containers are the same size, and yet, this one only holds seven liters of oil."

"It's obviously part of Scorpius's spell," Shawn said. "And I just had me a flash. Maybe the lock takes six liters of oil to open it. All we have to do is get six liters into the middle container."

"It's going to take some figuring, but I'll do it."

Multi took the containers and began pouring oil to and from them. Finally, he managed to get six liters in the container, and he poured it into the lock. With the most awful screeching sound you ever did hear, the gates unlocked and opened. Multi and Shawn cringed and covered their ears as Impossi-Pup whined, and covered her ears with her paws. When the gate was open, the trio walked inside. They went up to the castle door, and looked around. Shawn picked out an herb, and Multi grabbed a disc with some strange symbols on it.

"What did you grab that thing for?" Shawn asked.

"Just in case we need it," Multi shrugged. "Come on. We'd better get inside."

"Uh oh," Shawn said. "There's no lock on this door."

"There isn't a doorknob, either," Multi said. "How do we get in?"

Impossi-Pup backed up, revved up, and ran forward, right into the door. WHAM! Multi and Shawn cringed when she hit, and the puppy was dazed.

"I think it might take a little more force," Multi said, petting his puppy. "Wait a minute! The axe we found! I bet that'll get us inside!"

Multi picked up the axe he had been carrying, and began chopping through the door. Once he made a hole big enough, he went through, and Shawn and Impossi-Pup followed. They went down a hallway, and toward a set of stairs.

"I actually think it's creepier inside this place than it is outside," Shawn said.

"But at least we're on the right track," Multi said, picking up a piece of parchment. Impossi-Pup sniffed around, and grabbed an herb that was sticking out of the wall.

"Atta girl," Multi said, handing the herb to Shawn.

"Multi, we've got a problem," Shawn said. "According to my compact, we have to go down a corridor to the left, but it's blocked by a gate.

"Look over here," Multi said, walking over to the wall. "Looks like some sort of box, kind of like one to enter a code or something. Maybe if we crack the code, the gate will open."

"But it could be any number of combinations, Multi!"

"Well, we should at least try."

Shawn nodded. There wasn't much else she could do at this point.

Meanwhile, Coiley and FG finally made it up to the castle gates. Naturally, they were locked.

"I didn't expect it to be open," Coiley said. He sprang upward, and stretched his arm forward. It hit something, but he and FG didn't know what. It felt like a wall.

"Can't get over the gate this way," Coiley said. "There's an invisible wall here."

"Yeah, and I don't think you'll be of much use if you knock yourself out cold like Fluey did," FG said. "We'd better look around for something of use."

The duo looked around the area, but they didn't find anything that would have been useful. FG managed to find an herb, while Coiley found a disc.

"I don't think that's going to help us unlock the gate, Coiley," FG said.

"Maybe not," Coiley said. "But I have a feeling it might come in handy. And I have a feeling I _might_ know what will open the door. Hand me that eyeball we found."

"My pleasure," FG said, grimacing as she took the eye they had found earlier. Coiley brought it over to the gate, where there were two owls. Both of them were missing their eyes.

"Eeeek!" FG shouted. "Ooohh, are they ever creepy!"

"Watch this," Coiley said, and he put the eye into one of the owl's sockets. It fit perfectly. "Now all we need are three more!"

"I'll call Multi and Shawn first," FG said.

FG tuned her communicator to Shawn's. Shawn heard it beeping, and switched it to FG.

"Hey, do you guys happen to have any owl eyes?" FG asked.

"Owl eyes?" Shawn said. "Well . . . . we _did_ find a glass eyeball awhile back. Would that work?"

"Probably. Let me contact Danalleah and see if she found any."

FG signed out with Shawn, and began putting in Danalleah's coordinates. As she was doing that, Danalleah and Fluey were standing before the bridge. Despite resting, Fluey definitely did not feel up to using his powers to get across the bridge, and Danalleah wouldn't have been able to help him much, either.

"I think I'll take my chances on foot across this thing, Dani," he said.

"Okay," Danalleah said. "I'll meet you on the other side."

Danalleah transformed herself into a bat, and flew across to the other side. Fluey started himself, gripping the ropes holding the bridge up for dear life. He wished he had listened to Danalleah in the snake temple about going through the gate. His head was _killing_ him. But he felt he had come too far to stop now. As Danalleah was waiting for him, her communicator went off.

"Danalleah here," she said.

"You and Franky don't happen to have any eyes on you, do you?" FG asked.

"We have one," Danalleah said.

"Okay, and Multi and Shawn have one, too," FG said. "Coiley and I found one, and now we need one more."

"Well, I'll send you mine and Multi's and Shawn's now," Danalleah said. "Once Fluey and I continue going, we'll see if we can find the fourth."

"Okay, because Coiley and I can't go anywhere without that other eye!"

Danalleah signed off, and put her fingers to her temples. Suddenly, the eye she was carrying disappeared.

"Thanks, Danalleah, we've got them both," FG said. "Let us know if you find another one. Fluid Girl out."

By that time, Fluey had finally made it across the bridge. Once he was across, he leaned against a nearby tree, and held his hand to his head.

"Ooohhh . . . ." he moaned.

"Do you need another break?" Danalleah asked.

"No," Fluey said. "The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can rescue Big D."

The duo went down another path, and found a locked gate.

"Figures," Fluey said. "Looks like some sort of hydraulic system. I'd go over this thing, but I don't want to bash my brains in."

"I don't want you to bash your brains in, either," Danalleah said, plucking an herb. "Because more than likely, there's another invisible barrier here."

"Yeah, I kinda don't want to take chances in finding out. We'll have to think this one out a little."

Fluey and Danalleah looked around, until Fluey spotted something. He noticed one of the stones in the wall was loose, and he pried it out.

"Hey, Dani, look at this!" he shouted. "Looks like a bunch of water pipes, and one's connected right to the gate. I think I've got it!"

"What?" Danalleah asked.

"Coiley, Multi, and I encountered something similar when we tangled with that crazy puppet master's daughter in Italy," Fluey explained. "If we can get the water flowing from the faucet to the gate, maybe that'll unlock it."

"Here's a wrench, Fluey," Danalleah said, picking a wrench up and handing it to the dark-haired Impossible. Immediately, Fluey began rearranging the pipes until they were connected.

"Okay, Dani, turn on the water," Fluey said.

Danalleah turned the valve and the water immediately began flowing through the pipes. With an eerie squeaking noise, the gates opened. The duo walked through the gates, and went up the steps. Danalleah located another herb, while Fluey found an odd disc of some kind.

"Like weirdsville, man," he said. "I wonder where this goes."

"I don't know," Danalleah said. "I'm starting to get a funny feeling all of a sudden."

"Yeah, me too," Fluey said. "Kind of like this deja vu feeling you know?"

"Look, Fluey!" Danalleah shouted, and she started toward a platform with a withering basil plant on it. "This poor plant. I don't think anyone's been taking care of it."

"I'm not surprised," Fluey said. "Come on, Dani, leave that thing alone. We don't have time!"

"But I have a watering can," Danalleah said. "Please Fluey, it won't take long."

"Nature Girl," Fluey muttered. "If you ever decide to become a superheroine, that'd be your name, Dani. Okay, but hurry it up."

Danalleah nodded. She knew Fluey was only rushing her so they could find Big D faster. She knew he was extremely worried about his grandfather. She pulled out the watering can she had found (and miniaturized earlier so it would fit in her purse. It grew back to it's full size when she took it out), and watered the basil plant. Once she did, the plant revived, but then Fluey noticed something.

"Hey, Dani," he said. "It looks like there's another puzzle in the stone here. And the pieces of it are scattered around. Maybe there's another gem hidden here."

"Good thinking," Danalleah said, and she and Fluey began gathering up the pieces. "So far, every puzzle we've found has resulted in a gem."

The duo quickly began putting the puzzle pieces together, and something in the stone opened. They didn't find another gem, but they _did_ find an anchor which was tied to a rope.

"Better take it," Fluey said. "We may need it."

"Right," Danalleah said, grabbing the rope, and miniaturizing it so it would fit in her purse. Suddenly, the platform began to crumble into rubble, and it fell through the ground. Not only did it fall, but the ground where Danalleah and Fluey were standing also gave way, and the two of them fell directly into a huge hole.

"Whoooaaaa!" they yelled. Fluey ended up banging the back of his head on the ground hard, as he landed flat on his back, and Danalleah landed right on top of him.

"Oooohhh!" he groaned. "Ooohhh . . . . not again!"

"Fluey, are you all right?" Danalleah asked.

"I think so," Fluey groaned, sitting up. "Aaahhh! Oooh, my head!"

"Oh, you poor thing," Danalleah said, sympathetically. "You're going to have a terrible headache when this is all over!"

"I'll try not to pass out on you, Dani," Fluey said. "But I wouldn't count on me using my powers to get out of here, either. Come on, let's look around here."

"No. You're not doing anything of the kind. Let me take a look around this underground cavern. You sit and rest."

"I'll be okay, Dani, really."

"Absolutely not. Fluey, seriously, you don't look so well. Please, as a favor to me. Just sit down and rest for a few minutes."

Fluey gave in, but only because his head was killing him. Danalleah _did_ have a point, though. He had to admit, he _was_ feeling a bit drained. But above all, he had to keep from passing out again. Danalleah knew Fluey didn't want to lose consciousness again, so she had to come up with something that was going to keep him occupied while she searched. Luckily for her, she found two boxes on the ground. The larger one had a bird outline carved in the top, and the smaller one held small, wooden shapes of various sizes.

"Here, Fluey," she said, handing her boyfriend both boxes. "This should keep you awake. This is a tangram. You have to fit the pieces into the outline, and you _have_ to use all the pieces, and they _can't_ overlap."

"I just hope there aren't any missing," Fluey said. "Thanks, Dani. I hope it works."

Fluey immediately began fitting the pieces into the box while Danalleah searched around the room. She managed to find a parchment piece, another herb, and, as luck would have it, the other eye. She immediately called FG.

"Hey, FG, I have that other eye for you!" she shouted. "Stand by! I'm sending it over!"

Danalleah closed her eyes, and put her fingers to her temples. The eye vanished in a bunch of sparkles.

"Okay, Danalleah, we've got it!" FG shouted. "Thanks!"

And with that, FG signed out, and handed the eyes to Coiley.

"Would you mind fielding this?" she asked. "This is _really_ creeping me out!"

"Sure," Coiley said, taking the eyes. He stuck them into the owls, and the gate opened. Quickly, he and FG ran through.

"I don't know which was creepier," Coiley said. "The owls without their eyes, or the owls _with_ their eyes!"

"Never mind!" FG shouted, as she ran up a flight of stairs. "We've got other things to worry about."

Coiley nodded, and followed FG. They came to the door, and noticed the strange lock on it. Coiley inspected it while FG grabbed a nearby herb.

"It looks like this lock is weighted down," Coiley said.

"My guess is we should take the weights off the right side and move them to the left," FG said.

Coiley grabbed the smallest weight from the top of the weight stack, and moved it. Then he took the next one and tried to move it on top of the first one, but suddenly, the weight flew back to where it originally was. And Coiley found he couldn't move anything underneath the weight, either.

"Oh, I think I get it now," he said. "It's another puzzle lock. I think I've played this one before. It's called Towers of Hanoi. We have to move all the weights on the right to the spot on the left, but we can only move one weight at a time, and a bigger weight can't go on top of a smaller weight."

"I'm confused already," FG said. "You'd better field this one, too, Coiley."

"No problem."

Coiley then began moving the weights back and forth between three rods there. Once he solved the puzzle, the left end of the lock began to swing downward, raising the right end, and unlocking the door. Coiley pushed it open, and he and FG walked in, slowly, and were nearly dive bombed by an army of bats. Both of them screamed, and ducked.

"Sheesh," Coiley said. "I hope that's not a sign of things to come!"

"We'd better keep moving, Coiley," FG said. "I just hope Big D's okay!"

Coiley agreed, and he and FG slowly made their way down the hall.

Meanwhile, Danalleah had found everything she could have down in that secret room. It was time to get out of there, so she took the anchor and swung it up to the edge of the hole.

"Hey, Dani!" Fluey shouted. "Check this out! I just got finished with that puzzle, and when I did, the box opened, and inside was this."

Fluey handed Danalleah a dark green gem. Immediately, the teen witch stuck it inside her purse.

"Good going," she said. "Do you think you can climb out of here?"

"Yeah, no problem," Fluey said. "I'm going to have to if I want to get out of here. My head hurts too much to concentrate on using my powers."

Danalleah nodded. She transformed herself into a bat and flew out of the hole. Then she waited for Fluey. It was slow going, but she didn't really blame him, what with having been dealt three blows to the head now. Finally, he made it up. Danalleah helped steady him, and the two of them walked to the castle doors.

"Thanks, Dani," Fluey said, trying to catch his breath. "I'm okay, I think I can stand now."

"If you're sure," Danalleah said.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Fluey said, nodding.

Danalleah wasn't so sure, but she allowed Fluey to attempt staying on his feet. No sooner than she had, however, Fluey collapsed, and lost consciousness again.

"I knew he'd never be able to hold out," Danalleah groaned. She then called Multi on her compact.

"Mayday, Multi!" she shouted.

"What's wrong?" Multi asked.

"I think Fluey's seriously hurt," Danalleah said. "He bashed his head again trying to go through another invisible barrier, then we fell through a hole in the ground and he hit his head again, and now he's passed out on me again!"

"Okay, I can't really do anything to help the situation," Multi said. "You're just going to have to stay there for right now, Danalleah. If he came out of it once, he'll come out of it again. I hope. Though I think a lot of this has to do with stress. He's probably worried about Big D, more worried than any of the rest of us, I'll bet."

"I can't really blame him for that. After all, Phyllis and Big D are practically the only family he has, unless you also count Sita, Tara, and the kids. Okay, Multi. I'll talk to you later."

And with that, Danalleah signed out. Then she gripped Fluey's hand tightly, and began stroking his hair.

"Hang in there, Fluey," she said. "Everything will be fine. I hope."


	8. An Inside Job

Meanwhile, Scorpius went down to his dungeon. He was oblivious to the fact that the Impossibles and the girls were on their way.

"Enjoying captivity so far, Dawson?" he asked.

"Very funny," Big D said. "I'm not in the least frightened of you, Scorpius. I've been in situations _far_ worse than this before, and I've managed to escape."

"Still think your agents will come to save you, do you?"

"I know they will. Don't underestimate them, Scorpius. They'll come. And once they arrive, you're the one who's going to be in captivity."

"You and your agents don't have a chance against _me_, Dawson. Even if they get through the valley, and into my castle, they will never find the treasure, and they will never destroy me. And neither will you. Nothing will destroy me! Nothing!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. If anyone can do it, the Impossibles can!"

"Heh. I'd like to see them try! They'll never find the statue I created. They need to destroy it to destroy me. And it won't be as easy as it looks. There's a secret in destroying the statue. You just can't knock it over. And you, and your agents will _never_ discover how to do it, either!"

And with that, Scorpius walked away, cackling madly. Big D didn't respond, or even acknowledge the evil wizard. He just waited. He knew the Impossibles would come.

Coiley and FG walked into the castle hall and began looking around. FG picked up an herb from a container, while Coiley looked at the portraits on the wall.

"I wonder if these are pictures of the old owners," he said.

"Who knows?" FG said, shrugging. "Come on, let's go this way."

The duo walked through another door and found themselves in what appeared to be a bedroom. FG walked over to a window where she saw another herb and plucked it. Then, she looked out the window for a few moments.

"Look, Coiley!" she shouted. "You can see the entire valley from here!"

"Yeah," Coiley said, grabbing a pair of scissors. "It's a great view all right, but we don't have time to look at it now. I think there might be something in this old mattress, and these scissors ought to do the trick in opening it."

Coiley used the scissors to cut into the mattress. Inside of it was a key.

"I wonder what this is for," he said.

"Well, better hang onto it," FG said, putting it in her purse. "It must be important. Otherwise, why would an evil magician hide it in his mattress?"

"Yeah. Come on, we'd better keep going."

The duo walked into another hallway, and looked around.

"Holy horrific!" Coiley shouted. "This place is definitely creepier than the rest of the castle!"

"I'll say!" FG shouted, grabbing an herb from another container. "At least we're finding these herbs. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a feeling we're close to something evil. What do you . . . . . Coiley? Hey Coiley, what's the matter?"

FG noticed that Coiley was staring at something, and his eyes were bulged slightly, and he looked pale. FG turned to see what in the world he was staring at. It was a bronze statue. FG assumed it was an Indian god or goddess, or something along those lines. It had several arms, and looked like it was wearing a necklace of skulls. No wonder Coiley looked so scared!

"Eeeee . . . . ." FG said, backing away. "This thing would give a person nightmares for _years_!"

"No kidding," Coiley said. "I know I shouldn't look at it, but for some reason, I can't _stop_ looking at it!"

"Kind of like a train wreck," FG said. "Hey, Coiley, look here. There's a bunch of stuff scattered around, and they're all made out of bronze, like the statue. Do you think maybe these go with that thing?"

"Maybe," Coiley said, shrugging. "He . . . . or she . . . . . or it . . . . . looks like it might be holding these items. Let's put them on and see what happens."

Coiley and FG then gathered up the bronze pieces from the floor, and began positioning them into the hands of the statue. Once everything was in place, a ball on the statue's necklace opened, revealing a pink gem. FG grabbed it, and immediately stowed it in her purse. Then she and Coiley got out of there as fast as they possibly could. They wound up in a room full of prisms, and some light rays, surrounding a crystal ball. And, they noticed, they were also at a dead end.

"_Now_ what do we do?" FG asked.

"Maybe there's a secret door that's light activated," Coiley said. "If we put them in the right order, maybe it'll open."

"It's worth a shot," FG said, shrugging. She and Coiley began placing prisms in various spots on the floor, until they were all aligned with the light rays. Once they were, a secret door opened up from the floor, revealing a flight of stairs.

"I wonder where _this_ leads to," FG said.

"There's only one way to find out," Coiley said. "Let's go! Rally ho!"

And with that, Coiley started down the stairs, and FG followed.

Meanwhile, Multi _finally _managed to get the combination to the gate, and it rose. He, Impossi-Pup, and Shawn ran through it, and found themselves in another part of the castle.

"What is this place?" Shawn asked.

"I think it's a grand hall," Multi said. "I read somewhere that's where Indian kings held meetings."

Impossi-Pup suddenly began barking, and she went into her pointer routine. Multi picked up an herb from where his dog was pointing, and handed it to Shawn. Then the three of them began investigating the room. Multi came across a cabinet, and tried opening it.

"Locked," he said. "Do you have a bobby pin, Shawn?"

"Yeah, here," Shawn said, taking a bobby pin out of her purse. Multi immediately took it, and began picking the lock. Or at least trying to. No matter how he tried, Multi just couldn't open that cabinet door. All he _did_ manage to do was destroy Shawn's bobby pin by breaking it in half.

"Darn it," he groaned. "Scorpius must have fixed it so that only the key will open this door. I'll call Coiley and FG. Maybe they found it. According to your compact, they're already in the castle, and Fluey and Danalleah are right outside it."

And with that, Multi dialed in FG's bracelet communicator. FG and Coiley were slowly going down a long, narrow tunnel when she received the signal.

"Fluid Girl reporting," she said.

"Hi, FG, it's Multi," Multi said. "Do you have a key or something on you?"

"Yeah, we do," FG said. "Do you need it?"

"Yeah, we've got a cabinet door that won't unlock. Believe me, I've tried the lock picking trick, too."

"Okay, let me call Danalleah."

"She's going to call Danalleah," Multi said, closing the connection, and handing Shawn's compact back to her. A few moments later, a key appeared out of nowhere. Multi immediately grabbed it, while Shawn established contact with Danalleah.

"We've got it, Danalleah, thanks!" she shouted.

"No problem," Danalleah said. "I'm still trying to figure out how to get in here myself."

Multi stuck the key into the lock, turned it, and opened the door. Inside was a torn piece of paper with "51" written on it. The only other text on the paper was written in Hindu, and neither Multi nor Shawn could make heads or tails out of it.

"Weird," Multi said. "I wonder what it means?"

"If we had the other half, we'd be able to find out," Shawn said. "Come on, let's go in here. Maybe we'll find it somewhere along the way."

Multi pocketed the paper, and he, Impossi-Pup, and Shawn continued on their way through an open door. They figured this was the throne room. There was a huge armchair in the center of it, and stone lions on either side.

"Wow, this room is _really_ creepy," Shawn said. Impossi-Pup whimpered, and tried hiding behind Multi's leg.

"I know," Multi said, opening a jar and taking an herb out. "But we have to keep going. Come on. According to your tracker, Big D is this way."

The trio went through another door, and found themselves in a pitch black room.

"I can't see a thing!" Shawn shouted.

"Maybe we can use the torch we found earlier," Multi said. "Hang on a minute, I'll go find something we can use to light it up."

"Okay," Shawn said, picking up the super puppy for comfort. "But hurry up! I don't like being left in the dark!"

Multi took the torch and ran back through the throne room, and into the hall. The fireplace was blazing, so he used that to light the torch. Then he returned to Shawn and Impossi-Pup. The light wasn't much, but at least they would be able to see where they were going.

"Uh oh," Multi said, looking around. "A maze."

"How do we know which is the right direction?" Shawn asked.

"We don't," Multi sighed. He handed the torch to Shawn, and clipped a leash to Impossi-Pup's collar. "It's going to be trial and error here, Shawn. The tracker in your compact isn't going to help us much in this situation. We might as well get started."

And with that, the trio began making their way through the maze. Multi gave Shawn the torch, and held onto her other hand, while tightly gripping Impossi-Pup's leash. He didn't want to risk losing either of them in the maze, that was for sure!

"This isn't going to be easy," Multi said. Then, he suddenly walked into a wall. THUD!

"Oooh!" he shouted, backing up a little.

"Are you all right, Multi?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah," Multi said, shaking his head out. "I just hit the wall, that's all. I hate mazes."

"So do I. It's bad enough to go through one when you _can_ see where you're going, this one is just going to be im_poss_ible for us to navigate!"

"Maybe not. Impossi-Pup has some great navigational skills. Maybe she can lead us through the maze."

"Good idea, Multi!"

Multi then bent down to Impossi-Pup's level, and began petting her, building up her courage.

"Okay, girl," he said. "It's all up to you. Do you think you can show us the way out, with_out _using your super speed? All you have to do is point in the direction we should go. Are you up for the challenge?"

Impossi-Pup barked, stood up on her hind legs, and saluted her master. Then, she got down on all fours, and began sniffing about. Finally, she did her pointer routine (_poing!_)

"Atta girl, Impossi-Pup!" Multi shouted. "Let's go, Shawn!"

The trio continued along the maze, using Impossi-Pup as a guide. Multi kept the pup's leash in his grip, and Shawn's hand tightly gripped in his other hand, while Shawn held up the torch with her other hand. Though Impossi-Pup was an accurate guide-dog, Multi and Shawn couldn't help but hit the walls every now and again. After all, even with the torch, it _was _hard to see where the turns were. Finally, they were able to navigate to a small staircase, and they raced upward. Multi opened a door, and found a tunnel of some sort, lit by more torches. It was a little easier to see in there than it was in that maze.

"Do we have to go through there?" Shawn asked.

"Well, Skittles?" Multi said, turning to his dog. Impossi-Pup sniffed around a little, barked, and did her pointer bit again, pointing directly down that tunnel.

"I guess so," Multi said, shrugging. "At least we can see where we're going now."

Shawn didn't like the looks of this tunnel, but there wasn't any other choice. Both Impossi-Pup, _and_ her compact were telling her this was the right direction. So she just held her boyfriend's hand tightly, and went into the tunnel with him, and his dog.

Meanwhile, Danalleah was searching the porch for useful items, herbs, gems, and pieces of parchment. She was also trying to figure out how to get inside. She managed to find an herb and a parchment piece, but the issue of the door still remained, as well as how long it was going to take before Fluey awoke this time.

"Oooohhhh . . . . ." a voice moaned. Danalleah turned, and saw Fluey, finally coming to. She ran over to him, and helped him sit up.

"About time," she said. "Are you all right?"

"I guess so," Fluey said, a little groggily. "Sorry, Dani. I didn't mean to pass out on you again."

"It's okay, but I don't know if you should go on."

"I have to. We've got to get in there and rescue the chief."

"I know, Fluey, but you can barely stand up. I don't know if you should go on, and I can't leave you here by yourself, either, while I look for the chief."

"I'm sure I can manage, Dani. But if it'll make you feel better, we can take five."

"Well . . . . . . you can take five. I'm going to try to figure out this door."

Danalleah walked up to the porch, and examined the lock on it.

"This isn't going to be easy," she said. Then she suddenly remembered something. "The disc I found! That's it! It looks like it could fit into this door!"

Danalleah took the shrunken disc out of her purse, resized it, and stuck it into the door. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything.

"I think we need some more discs," Fluey said.

"But there aren't any more around here," Danalleah said. "Believe me, I looked. We'd better call the others. Maybe they found them."

"Right," Fluey said. "I'll call Shawn, you call FG."

Danalleah nodded, and she and Fluey began punching buttons on their communicators.

"Hi, Shawn," Fluey said. "Listen, do you and Multi happen to have any weird disc things?"

"Yeah, we do," Shawn said. "You need it?"

"Yeah, otherwise, we won't be able to get inside this place."

"Okay, tell Danalleah we do, and stand by."

"Thanks."

Fluey closed the connection with Multi and Shawn, just as Danalleah closed hers with Coiley and FG.

"Multi and Shawn have one," Fluey reported. "She said to tell you and stand by."

"All right," Danalleah said. "Coiley and FG have one, too, so stand back."

Fluey stood back, as Danalleah put her fingers on her temples. Suddenly, one disc appeared from thin air. Then, took a breath, and put her fingers onto her temples again. In a flash of sparkles, the second disc appeared. Both Fluey and Danalleah each grabbed one, and contacted the others to tell them they got the discs. Then, Danalleah took the disc Fluey was holding and went to the door, while Fluey sat down in a chair that was on the porch.

"I hope I don't have any more mishaps regarding my head," Fluey groaned. "Oooh brother, does it ever hurt!"

"I bet," Danalleah said, putting the discs into the door. Then she found she could rotate them, but it still didn't open the door.

"Ooooohhh . . . . . bed knobs and broomsticks!" she shouted, frustratedly. "They must go in a certain order."

"This is some security system this Scorpius guy has," Fluey said. "We could be out here all day looking for the right combination! And we don't have much time to spare, either."

Fluey got up, and looked at the discs. Then he saw something carved in the side of the door.

"Hey, Dani, look here," he said. "It looks like a diagram of the discs, but without all the symbols. Only three symbols are showing up, and one symbol is from the first disc, one from the second disc, and one from the third disc . . . . . hey, man, that's it!"

Immediately, Fluey began turning the discs until the symbols on the diagram matched the positions on the door. Once the door was positioned correctly, the door opened.

"Fluey, you did it!" Danalleah shouted.

"Yeah, man," Fluey said. "Come on. Let's get inside and find the chief! Rally ho-ho, and away we go!"


	9. The Statue

Fluey and Danalleah entered the castle, and began walking down a hallway. They entered a room, and began looking around. Danalleah picked up a piece of parchment, as well as what appeared to be a blank piece of paper.

"What do you want that for?" Fluey asked, as he looked inside a container and found another herb in it.

"You never know," Danalleah said, shrugging, as she picked up a key. "This could come in handy, too."

"I tell ya, Dani, this place is _really_ sending shivers up my spine. Check out that rug on the wall."

"Oh, how awful! Scorpius must be a very cruel creature to have a bearskin rug displaying on his wall!"

"Yeah, man. I hope we find the chief before it's too late."

"Me too. Come on. The trackers are telling us to go this way."

After gathering what they needed, Fluey and Danalleah continued into another room. It was a library, and all of the books were on black magic. Fluey began looking around, while Danalleah took the blank piece of paper over to the desk. Suddenly, something began to appear on it.

"Fluey, come here!" she called. "Look! That paper must have been soaked in a potion, and the light is revealing what it says!"

"It doesn't make much sense . . . . . I think it's a cryptogram. We're going to have to figure out how to decipher it. At least it's in English. The stuff written on the parchments are in Hindu, and I can't make sense of what they mean!"

Danalleah nodded, and she and Fluey got to work trying to solve the cryptogram. It took a lot of guess work, as well as erasing, but they managed to eventually figure it out.

"Okay, here it is," Fluey said. "Distract and focus the beams. Switch light and reveal. Watch floor pattern. _What?_ That makes even less sense than it did when it was encrypted!"

"I guess we'll just have to figure it out later," Danalleah said, shrugging. She walked over to a cabinet and tried to open it, but it was locked. She took the key she had found in the other room, and unlocked it.

"A torn piece of paper," she said. "With the number thirty-nine written on it. I wonder where the other half is."

"Probably with Multi or Coiley," Fluey said, shrugging. "The way this is ending up, I mean. I'll give Shawn a buzz and see."

And with that, Fluey raised his communicator to call Shawn while Danalleah searched the room.

"Fluey to Shawn and Multi," Fluey said. "Listen, this is gonna sound crazy, but Dani and I found a torn piece of paper with the number thirty-nine on it, and we were wondering if you found something similar."

"Yeah, we did," Multi said. "It has fifty-one written on it. Do you need Danalleah to spirit it over?"

"No, I'll just write it down," Fluey said, grabbing a pen and writing "51" on his half of the paper. "Thanks!"

"Well, I found another herb," Danalleah said.

"Great," Fluey said. "Multi and Shawn had the other piece, but I don't think it's necessary to transfer it. They told me it had fifty-one on it, so I just wrote it down."

"Good. Come on. Let's keep going. According to my compact, we're getting close to the chief."

"Let's go, then."

The duo went down the hallway, and found a flight of stairs. They raced down them, and suddenly found themselves in the dungeon.

"Oh, what a creepy place!" Danalleah shouted.

"We're in the right direction, though," Fluey said, looking at his communicator. "According to this, Big D should be right in this cell. I'm going in to make sure."

"Are you sure you can handle it? You said your head hurt too much to concentrate on using your powers."

"I'm just going to have to make myself do it. Stand back. I'm gonna need some room. Rally ho-ho!"

And with that, Fluey went into a full liquid conversion, and went underneath the cell door. Once he was inside, he converted back to solid, leaned against the wall for a moment, held his head in his hands, and groaned.

"Ooooh!" he shouted. "Boy, I knew being a superhero could be a headache, but this is ridiculous!"

"Fluid?" Big D asked.

"Yeah, boss," Fluey said, walking over to the chief. He untied the chief's hands, and took the blindfold off.

"You okay, boss?" Fluey asked. "I was worried sick! Now I think I know what you went through during the Shadow incident."

"I'm fine," Big D said, getting to his feet. "Where are Multi and Coil?"

"Beats me. Probably somewhere in this creepy castle."

"I was afraid of that. Unless Multi taught you how to pick a lock, I can't get out of this cell."

"I don't think I can go under the door again, boss. My head is killing me! I took quite a few lumps during the trip."

"Multi's lock pick trick wouldn't work here, chief!" Danalleah called, as she stowed an herb she found in her purse. "Scorpius put a weird lock on the cell. It's going to take a combination to open it."

"Try the combination we found in the library, and the numbers Multi gave me," Fluey said. "That might be it!"

"It's worth a shot," Danalleah said. She put the numbers into the box, and pulled a lever. With an unbearable screech, the cell door opened, and Fluey and Big D ran out.

"Excellent work, Critch," Big D said. "Now we should regroup with the others, and find a way to destroy that sorcerer once and for all."

"Do you have any idea how to do it, Big D?" Fluey asked.

"He said something about a statue," Big D said. "We have to find a way to destroy it, and once the statue is destroyed, then he'll be destroyed."

"Well, according to my tracker," Danalleah said, "Multi, Shawn, Skittles, Coiley, and FG are heading for the same direction, so we'll just track them to this spot in the center here."

"Okay, then, let's move!" Fluey shouted.

The trio then walked down a hallway, and found themselves in a strange room, with a set of large discs on the floor. There was no way across them, either.

"Great, another stupid puzzle," Fluey groaned.

"Well, we're going to have to solve it if we want to get out of here," Danalleah shrugged. "Give me a hand with this, you guys."

Danalleah, Fluey, and Big D began rotating the discs, trying to figure out the correct pattern. It took awhile, but they finally managed to do it. Once the pattern was correct, the disc disappeared, and a large hole in the floor appeared.

"Watch that first step, gang, it's a long one!" Fluey shouted.

Before anything else could happen, a bridge of sorts began coming out of both ends of the gap.

"Come on," Big D said. "And whatever you do, be _extremely_ careful crossing this thing!"

"Gotcha, chief," Fluey said, and he, and Big D slowly made their way across the bridge, mainly because there wasn't any guardrail. Danalleah turned herself into a bat in order to cross (she wasn't taking chances). Fluey was used to crossing these types of bridges (of course, those types of bridges were usually Multi and his duplicates), but he was feeling a little dizzy, and he didn't want to risk falling.

As soon as the trio were across the bridge, they found themselves in a room. There was a huge caldron in the center of it. In front of the caldron was a podium with a large spell book resting on it. There was also another podium, but there wasn't anything on that one.

"It doesn't look like Scorpius is around," Fluey said.

"Don't bet on that," Danalleah said, pointing to a door that was beginning to open.

The group tensed for a moment, and waited. As soon as the door opened, a flash of pale blue lightning zoomed out, and slammed into Fluey's chest, causing the dark-haired Impossible to skid backwards before landing on the floor, flat on his back, and banging his head against the floor.

"Owwww!" he moaned, as he was being smothered in puppy kisses. "Skittles! Good grief, what'd you have to go and do that for?"

"She's just happy to see you, Fluey," Multi said, as he and Shawn came into the room.

"I'm happy to see her, too, but not at the expense of a concussion!" Fluey shouted. "Oooh, my head!"

"I don't think I even want to know," Big D said.

"Hi, chief," Multi said. "Glad to see you're all right."

Before Big D could respond, another door opened. Everyone looked nervously, but relaxed when they saw Coiley and FG exit.

"Hey, it's a regular reunion in here," FG said.

"Took us long enough to regroup, that's all I've gotta say," Fluey said.

"Looks like Multi and I aren't needed," Coiley said. "How are you, chief?"

"Fine, just fine," Big D said. "All that's left is destroying Scorpius, and taking the curse off that treasure."

"Once we find it, you mean," Shawn said. "Where could he have hidden it?"

"Yeah, we've been all over this castle and didn't see a trace of it anywhere!" Coiley shouted.

"Give me all the herbs you've collected, everybody," Danalleah said. "I have an idea!"

Shawn and FG gave Danalleah the herbs from their purses, and she took the herbs she and Fluey collected. She threw them all into Scorpius's caldron, and waited.

"I don't see what this can accomplish, Ms. Critch," Big D said.

"Just give it a minute," Danalleah said. "It'll work, I'm sure of it!"

"You and your magic spells," Big D mumbled. "I highly doubt this will . . . . ."

Before Big D could finish that sentence, the caldron began bubbling. A dome covered it, and the water drained from it. Shortly after the water drained, a large chest rose from it, revealing the cursed treasure.

"Well, we've got the treasure," Fluey said. "Now what do we do to take the curse off it, Dani?"

"The parchment pieces," Danalleah said. "Give them to me. I'll take the curse off the treasure. Trust me, I'm the only one who can do this."

"How do you know that?" Multi asked.

"Because I'm a witch," Danalleah said. "And only a witch, or a wizard, or a sorcerer, or something like that can take care of this."

The group gave Danalleah all the parchment pieces they had collected, and Danalleah put them into the book. The minute she did, the group heard something rumbling. They looked toward the other podium, and saw something rising from it. It was the statue of Scorpius.

"I'm guessing that's the statue we've got to destroy," Fluey said. "Anybody got a sledgehammer?"

"That's not going to work," Big D said. "Scorpius said there was a trick in destroying that thing, but I haven't the faintest idea what it is."

Danalleah began staring intently at the statue, and she noticed several colored lights in places on it. The lights matched the colors of the gems she and the others had collected. She walked up to the statue, and found that the lights had indentations in them, as if they could hold something.

"That's it!" she shouted. "The gems!"

"Hey, yeah!" Fluey shouted. "That might be it! Come on, guys!"

The group took the gems, and began placing them in the statue one at a time, matching the gem with the colored light. Fluey was about to put the last gem into the statue, when it was suddenly yanked from his hand.

"What the . . . ." he started.

"Foolish children," a voice said. "Did you _really_ think you could outwit _me_?"

"Scorpius!" Big D shouted.

"I must admit, I _am_ impressed at your agents, Dawson," Scorpius said, throwing the gem up in the air and catching it in his hand. "They managed to get through my spell to reach the castle. They even managed to find the treasure, and figure out the secret to destroying the statue. But, they'll never lift the curse and destroy me!"

"That's what you think," Fluey said. "Rally ho-ho!"

Fluey then went into a partial liquid conversion, with his fist outstretched, and socked the sorcerer in the face as hard as he could. The gem went flying, and Danalleah transformed into a bat. She managed to catch it before it could hit the ground.

"You little pest!" Scorpius shouted. "Wait until I get my hands on you, you flying rat!"

"Rally ho!" Coiley shouted, springing forward, feet first. He used his lower spring to give Scorpius a huge kick in the stomach.

"Rally ho!" Multi shouted, moving forward rapidly with the help of his duplicates. They gave Scorpius multiple punches before the evil sorcerer could recover from Coiley's attack.

"We'd better put that gem in the statue fast," Fluey said. "Where'd Dani fly off to with it, anyway?"

Before anyone could answer, a powerful blast of black magic blasted Fluey from behind, and pushed him into a wall, causing him to bang the side of his head against it. He wasn't knocked out, but the blow _did_ daze him a bit. He was too dazed to even use his powers.

"Let's see you use your powers against me now, little man," Scorpius said, aiming his staff directly for the dark-haired Impossible. "You're obviously more clever than I anticipated. However, you and your friends will _never_ defeat me! No one will defeat me!"

"Don't be so sure, Scorpius," Big D said, and he suddenly grabbed the magician's staff, and tried to wrench it away from him.

It was a regular tug of war. The others just stood there, watching. It was about all they could do. Finally, Scorpius managed to pull away his staff, by kicking Big D in the stomach. He waved the staff around, and froze the Impossibles, Impossi-Pup, and the girls in place, so they couldn't do anything.

"Now for my revenge," Scorpius said with a laugh. He snapped his fingers, and a group of ghost-like hands appeared from out of the floor, holding Big D down by his wrists and ankles.

"It's all over now, Dawson," Scorpius said, as the ball on his staff began to generate some very powerful electricity.

Big D was trapped like a rat. There was no way he could get out of this mess, and the others were in no position to help him, either. However, Scorpius over looked one minor detail. Danalleah had been hiding in the rafters with the gem. While Scorpius's attention was focused on Big D, she flew down to the statue with the gem, and converted back to her human form.

"I hope this works," she said, as she stuck the gem into the last spot on the statue. Suddenly, the statue began to crack.

"Hey . . . . what the . . . ." Scorpius started, as the ground started shaking. He turned toward the statue and saw Danalleah standing there. She quickly turned herself into a bat and flew away from it, as it began crumbling. As the statue crumbled, Scorpius's spells began wearing off.

"No!" Scorpius shouted. "My statue! My power! No! Noooooo!"

Once the statue was completely destroyed, Scorpius let out a scream, and disintegrated. The dome covering the treasure disappeared, and the others were free of Scorpius's spell.

"If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it," Big D said. "I must admit, Critch, that was a good strategy."

"Thanks, chief," Danalleah said.

"Great going, Dani," Fluey said.

"We'd better take the treasure and get out of here," Coiley said. "I don't think we have to worry about that magician any longer."

The group agreed to that, and started to leave, while Multi and his duplicates took care of the chest containing the treasure. It wouldn't be too much trouble getting back to Sita's house from the castle, since Scorpius's spell was broken. However, the minute they got outside, Fluey groaned, and leaned against the doorframe, holding his hand to his head.

"Fluey, are you all right?" Danalleah asked.

"I . . . . I don't know, Dani," Fluey said. "Ooooh . . . . I'm so . . . . . dizzy all of a sudden . . . . ."

Before Fluey could finish that sentence, he collapsed. Big D managed to catch him before he hit the ground. The others immediately stopped and ran over.

"What happened?" Coiley asked.

"Is he all right?" Multi asked.

"I think all the blows he took to the head on this adventure finally caught up with him," Danalleah said. "Not to mention the stress. He shouldn't have continued going on this adventure after the first time he hit his head, but he wasn't going to listen. He passed out twice on me during the trip."

"I see," Big D said, as he picked up his grandson and began carrying him down the path. "We'd better get him back to Sita's house. I think we may need to call a doctor to look at him."


	10. Epilogue

Once the group returned to Sita's house, Sita took over. She immediately put Fluey to bed, and called a doctor to look at him. Once the doctor arrived, Big D went with him into the bedroom while the others waited outside.

"I hope it isn't too serious," Danalleah said, nervously.

"I hope not, either," Multi said. "Personally, I think it was just the stress that caught up to him. I know he didn't seem too stressed out during the trip, but I bet he was nearly ready to fall apart."

"I agree," Coiley said. "I think he didn't want to let on that he was worried. Big D does that a lot."

"Like grandfather, like grandson," Shawn pointed out. "But still, I hope he's okay."

The others agreed. It took awhile, but, the doctor and Big D finally emerged from the bedroom, and everyone stood up, waiting for the news.

"He'll be fine, Big D said. "It's just a mild concussion, nothing _too_ serious. He mainly passed out due to exhaustion, both physical and mental, but I'm leaning more toward mental."

"In other words, the stress of the situation caught up with him," Multi said.

"Exactly," Big D replied. "He should be back to his old self after a few days of rest."

"Think we can go in and see him, chief?" Coiley asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Big D said. "I want him to get some rest."

"Yeah, he _has_ had a rather long day, after all," Danalleah said.

"Come on," Multi said. "Let's go let Tara and the kids know everything's okay now."

The others agreed, and started out of the room. Danalleah was about to leave the room as well, when Big D stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Critch," he said. "I'd like to have a word with you."

"Yes, Big D?" Danalleah asked, growing a little nervous. She never liked that particular phrase. The last person who said "I'd like to have a word with you" to her was the dean of the Witch's Academy, and then she ended up expelled.

"This is not easy for me to say," Big D went on. "I'm a proud man, and I don't like admitting when I'm wrong."

"Wrong about what, chief?" Danalleah asked.

"I never thought you were much of a witch. As a matter of fact, I would even go as far as saying your powers were worthless to me."

"Well . . . . . nobody's perfect. Not even Mother."

"Yes, I know. In any case, Fluid woke up about halfway through the doctor's examination, and he explained what had happened. I assumed he managed to get himself loose, but he told me you managed to get inside that old house, and you were the one to take charge of the situation, when normally it would have been one of the boys. I'm a bit surprised at you."

"But, chief, I didn't mean to take charge. It was mainly because we were dealing with supernatural forces, and I knew Scorpius was one of the worst wizards in the world, and I wasn't sure the boys would be able to handle it, and . . . ."

"And without your help, I wouldn't be here right now, Fluid would still be incapacitated at Wyatt's house, and the others would be who knows where. I was especially surprised at you when you suddenly announced you knew how to defeat Scorpius. I was wrong about you and your powers."

Danalleah was speechless. She didn't know what to say. Big D simply turned, and left the room. Danalleah still wasn't his favorite person in the world, and it would take a little more time before she proved herself completely, but at least this was a start.

The End


End file.
